Hospitals Urged to Tight Up Medical Waste Disposal Monitoring
16 July 2016 15:20 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Board of Managers for the Indonesian Pediatrician Agency, Soedjatmiko, has called on all hospitals to properly dispose and incinerate all used vaccine bottles in order to prevent the misappropriation of such medical waste.
Soejatmiko said that there are actually procedures that has to be followed to the dot when it comes to medical wastes at clinics and hospitals. "We are calling for hospitals to pay more attention in handling their medical waste - as many of the counterfeit vaccines that we have found during our investigation suggest that empty vaccine bottles were refilled to be marketed as vaccines that are ready to be distributed," said Soedjatmiko in Jakarta on Saturday on July 16, 2016.
Similar concern were voiced by the Director for Economic and Extraordinary Crimes for the Jakarta Police's Criminal Investigation Unit, Brig. Gen. Agung Setya. According to Setya, Police authorities will not stop until they reach the bottom of the case. "This investigation will continue until we get to the bottom of this case,' he said.
As such, Setya said wants all stakeholders to continue to intensify their cooperation in relation to the production of vaccines - from the moment where it is created, to the disposal of the medical waste. "There are procedures that needs to be followed - as outlined by existing regulations," he said.
According to police investigations, the suspects produced the counterfeit vaccines by utilising used vaccine ampules, which they acquired from a syndicate consisting of 3 people that specialises in collecting improperly disposed medical waste - namely Sugiyati, Irna, and Enday.
Sugiyati is suspected to be collecting medical waste from Hermina Hospital in Bekasi, as well as Bethesda Hospital in Yogykarta. Irna is known to have worked as a nurse in Harapan Bunda Hospital in Kramat Jati, East Jakarta, along with Enday.
REZKI ALVIONITASARI