Full Paper Bag Hospital

Enjoy paper medicine bags

For about two months now, the pharmacies of Binh Dan Hospital (Ho Chi Minh City. Ho Chi Minh City) simultaneously put into use paper medicine bags, replacing plastic bags.

These bags are gray, designed with a variety of sizes including 0.5kg, 1kg, 2kg, 7kg... which can contain most of the prescriptions that patients are listed. According to statistics, about 2,200 paper bags are used to store medicines for patients a day.

Meticulously inspecting and arranging each blister of medicine into a paper bag, Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Phuc (42 years old, living in Dong Nai province) said excitedly: "I was very surprised when the hospital gave me medicine in this very friendly paper bag for the first time. Paper bag making the disposal faster when discharged, which is very good for the environment."

From Khanh Hoa to Binh Dan Hospital for a re-examination of stomach and colon pain, Mr. Le Hien Triet (55 years old) said that although he was re-examined many times at many hospitals, This is the first time he has received medicine through a paper bag.

For many years with the habit of using plastic bags, Mr. Triet sat and analyzed that both types of bags have the same use for storing medicines very compactly, but "plastic bags are not easy to destroy, just paper bags. I feel that it is necessary to replicate this to protect the living environment for future generations."

Not too surprised like other patients, Ms. Hien (living in Thu Duc District, Ho Chi Minh City. Ho Chi Minh City) was quite calm when the pharmacists distributed the medicine in paper bags. Because for many years, she has maintained the shopping habit of carrying a storage lane instead of a plastic bag.

Carrying a paper bag containing prescriptions for kidney stone treatment, Ms. Hien said: "This is too good, I very much agree and should be replicated in many other hospitals. in other fields. Especially in markets and supermarkets – where a huge volume of plastic bags are used."

Not only aware of herself, Ms. Hien said that wherever she goes, she actively reminds everyone to limit the use of plastics. "I see that there needs to be a solution from the root, that is, it is necessary to limit the production of plastic bags, plastic water bottles... So they gradually switched to the production of bags, bottles and cups with paper to gradually change user habits" – Ms. Hien proposed.

Not only Binh Dan Hospital, the use of paper bags for medicines is also being applied by Cho Ray Hospital in the pharmacy department for many months. According to a hospital employee, paper bags and cloth bags are two new forms of change that have just been approved by the hospital's board of directors. This brings a special change in the context of the increasingly popular habit of using plastic bags of patients.

Pharmacist Tran Thi Ngoc Bich (Binh Dan Hospital) said that because the program has just been implemented, many patients are still unfamiliar. "While selling medicines, we try to explain to patients the meaning of using paper bags so that they gradually adapt," said pharmacist Bich.

 

No bidding, plastic procurement

Not only medicine bags, convenient spring water bottles, straws, plastic cups, foam boxes... are gradually "disappearing" at hospitals. The initial handover last week at Cho Ray Hospital had a very strange thing compared to usual.

That is, in front of each seat of the faculty leaders, the room is arranged with a porcelain or glass cup to drink tea instead of plastic bottles of spring water, with straws as in the past. From this "say no to plastic waste" signal, the habit of using plastic items of medical staff and patients has also gradually changed.

According to statistics of Cho Ray Hospital, on average, the whole unit discharges about 8 tons of domestic waste into the environment a day. Among these is a very large part of plastic bags, disposable plastic products that are difficult to decompose.

And in order to limit the use of plastic products, the hospital decided not to include in the list of bidding and procurement of plastic packaging and bags (except for plastic bags containing garbage according to the regulations of the Ministry of Health). Faculties switch to using products with equivalent uses, made of environmentally friendly materials such as paper bags and fabrics.

The head of the hospital asked the leaders of departments and departments to limit and move towards not using single-use bottled drinking water, plastic straws in all meetings, conferences, seminars and events held at the unit.

Similarly, at Binh Dan Hospital, in the past, it was common to sign a contract to buy small convenient water bottles for meetings, so far they have been replaced with large water bottles (20 liters), using glass glasses, etc paper cups for drinking.

 "At meetings, departments and departments have "cut" the distribution of small water bottles. The canteen also switched to using stainless steel trays. In addition, all use cups and paper straws instead of plastic cups for patients and relatives to buy and take," said an employee of the hospital.

In addition to the hospitals mentioned above, in Ho Chi Minh City. Ho Chi Minh City currently has a series of hospitals such as Children's 2, Nguyen Tri Phuong, University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Saigon General Hospital, Orthopedics, Thu Duc District... are also in the process of implementing plastic waste restrictions.

Nationwide, according to the Ministry of Health, up to now, all health departments of 63 provinces and cities across the country have committed to reducing plastic waste in the health sector.

 

Need to reduce the price of self-consumption items

TS.BS. Tran Vinh Hung – director of Binh Dan Hospital – affirmed that the restriction of plastic waste was included in the "year program" by the unit. "In a spiral of everything plastic, we are calculating to try to limit the use to the maximum. And the move to use paper bags for medicines instead of plastic bags is one of the many jobs in that process," said Dr. Hung.

According to Dr. Hung, when replacing paper bags, the hospital has to accept the fact that the cost of the team is about 30%, which is an increase of about 100 million VND compared to using plastic bags.

"But the research hospital decided to convert very quickly and has been implementing it for nearly two months. Although it is quite expensive, we take the initiative not to give up. Because we are aware that this is our own business, our children's generation, not anyone's business," Dr. Hung shared.

Given that it is impossible to get rid of plastic items at the same time, especially in healthcare, there are many types of plastic items for which there is no alternative, however, Dr. Hung affirmed that moving towards not using plastic products is a "businessHe can delay."

"In daily life and expertise, what can be researched should be abandoned, if there is no replacement plan. For example, two plastic and glass saline bottles, if the quality and price are the same, the hospital should prioritize buying glass bottles to use," Dr. Hung analyzed.

Meanwhile, Dr. Hoang Thi Diem Tuyet – director of Hung Vuong Hospital – said that since the beginning of this year, that is, before the Ministry of Health issued a directive to commit to "say no to plastic waste", the unit has actively propagated to limit plastic waste. Specifically, in the meetings of the board of directors, the Party Committee has long "no longer seen" plastic bottles.

The most difficult thing in the implementation process, according to Dr. Tuyet, is the cost. Specifically, for self-disposable bags, the management agencies should have a mechanism to control the cost lower than unused plastic bags. Only then can the community be encouraged. participating hospitals.

"In fact, there are many stages where we want to switch to using self-consumption bags, but because the price is too expensive compared to plastic bags, economic conditions do not allow it, so it is still not possible to implement synchronously. Hopefully, in the coming time, the State will have appropriate policies to be able to encourage hospitals to participate," said Dr. Tuyet.

 

Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Kim Tien:   Hospitals must commit For many years, the policy of the Ministry of Health has been to build a green, clean, beautiful and environmentally friendly hospital. The Ministry of Health promulgates this directive with the goal of requesting units under the ministry, directors of hospitals, schools and medical facilities to sign commitments with the minister. In hospitals, each director, department head, staff, etc. must sign a commitment. In particular, departments procuring medical instruments and equipment, having commitments to source and approve bidding orders, procurement of medical equipment and supplies must minimize disposable plastic tools, plastic is difficult to decompose. Except for irreplaceable products that must be complied with to ensure standards and regulations, the rest of medical and daily life products must be minimized and move towards not using single-use plastic products in healthcare.

 

Ho Chi Minh City. Ho Chi Minh City: only 11% of plastic waste is recovered and recycled     Mr. Bui Trong Hieu – Chairman of the Board of Directors of Ho Chi Minh City Urban Environment Company Limited. Ho Chi Minh City – said that every day up to 1,800 tons of plastic waste are discharged in Ho Chi Minh City. Ho Chi Minh City (accounting for more than 20% of the total waste). However, only about 200 tons are recovered for recycling (about 11%). According to environmental experts, the best fundamental solution to treat plastic waste today is to promote waste classification at the source, and at the same time strongly handle the discharge of waste into the environment. Accordingly, garbage at households and waste source owners will be classified into 3 types: organic waste (leftovers, leaves, vegetables and fruits, animal carcasses); recycled waste (paper, plastic, metal, rubber, nylon, glass) and residual waste (excluding hazardous waste). However, the classification of waste at the source has not been widely implemented, moreover, it is difficult to separate plastic waste from domestic waste because currently people have not changed their habit of using plastic garbage bags.

1 of the top 5 littering countries     On April 25, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc issued a message calling on departments, branches, unions, businesses and each family to say no to plastic bags, Do not use disposable plastics. It can be seen that the Prime Minister's call takes place in the context that plastic waste pollution has become a global problem (the second challenge after climate change) and the fight against plastic waste in Vietnam is identified as an urgent task. "Vietnam is one of the top 5 countries responsible for about 13 million tons of plastic waste discharged into the ocean per year," said Albert T. Lieberg, Chief Representative of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in Vietnam. Recently, it can be seen that our country is facing many risks from plastic waste. FAO representatives estimate that 1.8 million tons of plastic waste are generated in Vietnam per year and plastic consumption is estimated to increase by 16-18% per year. The increase in plastic consumption and plastic waste discharge shows that the capacity of waste management, construction of recycling facilities, and related policies does not meet the demand. This creates a burden on the environment, and at the same time poses a growing threat to public health. At an online conference on August 18, Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Kim Tien said that plastic waste pollution seriously affects the environment, ecology and human health. It is estimated that more than 700,000 species of organisms in the world are negatively affected by plastic waste pollution. According to statistics from the European Commission, an estimated 8.3 billion tons of plastic products have been produced until 2018. Of which, about 6.3 billion tons of plastic become waste and about 5 billion tons accumulate in the environment or are landfilled. Every year, a total of about 4.8 – 12.7 million tons of plastic waste are discharged into the ocean. In healthcare, plastic waste arises from many different sources, including from the activities of medical staff, patients, and patients' families. Or from medical professional activities such as packaging, packaging tools, containers, medicines, chemicals, equipment, supplies, materials and supplies in health and from research, production activities, etc trading in drugs, medicinal ingredients, chemicals, etc. "Therefore, to limit plastic waste, the use of oral drugs can be increased if possible; using medical supplies, supplies, medical equipment, packaging, containers, medicines, chemicals made from environmentally friendly materials or reusable during examination, diagnosis, treatment and care for patients" – Ms. Nguyen Thi Lien Huong, Director of the Health Environment Management Department (Ministry of Health), said at the conference.

According to Tuoi Tre