Scary! Needles and IV Tubes Found Scattered in a Drain on Sriwijaya Road, Mataram Health Office Hunts Down Perpetrators

MATARAM - The Mataram City Health Office (Dinkes), West Nusa Tenggara, has confirmed that it will take firm action against those who carelessly dump medical equipment and disposable medical supplies (BMHP) into the drains on Jalan Sriwijaya, Mataram City.

The Head of the Mataram City Health Office, Dr. H. Emirald Isfihan, stated that his office had received direct instructions from the Mayor of Mataram to immediately investigate and identify the perpetrators.

"The Mayor has ordered us to identify the source of the perpetrators. So, we will ensure that we pursue the perpetrators of this case," Emirald said in Mataram, as quoted by Antara, Tuesday, October 14.

Hundreds of medical waste items, such as IV tubes and needles, syringes, gloves, and pregnancy test kits, were found discarded in the drains. Most of them were still in their packaging and had expired.

Following up on the findings, a joint team from the Health Office, the Environmental Office, the Public Works and Spatial Planning Office, community health centers, and the sub-district office cleaned up the area today.

"Throwing household waste into rivers and canals is clearly prohibited, let alone disposing of medical equipment and hazardous waste materials (BMHP). That's a serious violation," he stressed.

Emirald explained that medical waste has a special procedure for being destroyed using an incinerator. However, because 11 community health centers in Mataram City do not yet have such waste incineration equipment, the disposal process is currently being handled by a third party.

He said that each community health center only has a temporary storage area (TPS) to await transportation by medical waste management officers.

"The BMHP that we transported from the canal is temporarily being stored at the Pagesangan Community Health Center, and will later be destroyed according to applicable procedures," he said.