Quiapo lab tagged in dumped COVID-19 testing kits

MANILA, Philippines — Authorities in Manila have traced the used coronavirus rapid testing kits found scattered on a street in Sampaloc district to an X-ray laboratory in the Quiapo district.

Levi Facundo, officer in charge of the city’s Bureau of Permits, said on Wednesday that a scavenger had confessed to taking the garbage bag containing the hazardous waste from C. P. Diagnostic Center.

Facundo added that the laboratory did not have a sanitation permit from the city government, while its special license to handle hazardous wastes had expired.

A show-cause order was issued against Zernan Canonigo and Dr. P. Noval Santos, the owners of the establishment, which was barred from operating until violations identified by the city’s sanitation division had been corrected.

The incident prompted a Department of Health (DOH) official to issue a warning to laboratories and other healthcare facilities that their license could be revoked for improper disposal of medical waste.

Proper disposal required

“May I remind all of our health-care facilities [that it] is part of your licensing requirement [to observe] our protocol on the proper disposal of health-care waste. If you are not disposing [of] your health-care waste properly, then there would be accorded sanctions for this,” said Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire.

According to Vergeire, medical waste should not be treated as ordinary household garbage because it poses a health risk. “It should be placed in a bag labeled health-care waste. We have designated [facilities] approved by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources [DENR],” she said.

“Our licensed laboratories or health-care facilities … should coordinate with their local governments if they have not contracted out their waste disposal. If not, they should find one on their own. That is part of their responsibility,” she added.

Footage taken by a security camera showed that the used test kits found scattered on M. Dela Fuente Street near Trabajo public market on Tuesday night came from a torn garbage bag that fell off a passing pedicab.

Earlier, Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso warned all medical facilities and businesses in the city that they would be charged and closed should they fail to properly dispose of hazardous waste.