This is a huge danger of an epidemic and should at least be consulted with the Ministry of Health and epidemiologists who work on these topics.
This was told to journalists by the Minister of Health, Assoc. Prof. Silvi Kirilov, regarding the message received earlier today from the Sofia Municipality. Earlier today, the Sofia Municipality announced that they were suspending the acceptance of waste from hospitals at the Sofia Waste Treatment Plant, after the plant detected mixing of household and hazardous medical waste.
At 15:53 we received a message from the Sofia Municipality that the removal of household and hazardous waste from hospitals will be stopped. This is an ill-considered decision, because in 2024, 700 thousand citizens were treated in the capital's health facilities, Minister Kirilov added. Separately, about two million citizens reside in Sofia every day and such an action has an extremely huge impact on the epidemic situation of the city and in particular the hospitals, he added.
The Sofia Municipality has not informed us which hospitals are the violators, he added. The garbage will be where it belongs - in the incinerators, Minister Kirilov indicated in response to a question about what hospitals should do from tomorrow, since their waste will not be accepted at the Sofia Waste Treatment Plant. Hospitals do not remove waste, hospitals have contracts with licensed companies that remove waste and whoever controls these companies should control them, Minister Kirilov added. Bulgarian doctors and nurses have been working on this regulatory framework for 21 years and are already working on reflex, and an organization has also been created for everyone in medical institutions to comply with the rules, Minister Kirilov added. I believe this is intentional, he added, pointing out that there is a suspicion of ambiguity in the regulatory framework, which is being used to shunt people who are not related to medical activity.
An interdepartmental working group is about to be created to analyze the regulatory framework and, according to the analysis, drastic measures will be taken so that we can regulate this process, Minister Kirilov added.
It is strange to try to solve your own organizational or political problem by creating an even bigger one, including one that poses a risk to public health, said the Chief State Health Inspector Assoc. Prof. Angel Kunchev. Once a truck with such waste has been allowed to enter, it is the company's job to return it, seek some kind of interaction with the company that transports it, or terminate the contract, but punishing the entire population of the capital because some waste happened to end up there is absolutely unacceptable, added Assoc. Prof. Kunchev.
The Sofia Regional Health Inspectorate (SRHI) exercises control over medical institutions "next to the door" of the medical institution in terms of waste generation and storage, said Dr. Irina Gaitanevska from SRHI, quoted by BTA. According to her, regional health inspectorates have no authority outside the medical institution. Within its competence, SRHI exercises control over the generation of hazardous waste on a daily basis, and since the beginning of this year, about 960 inspections have been carried out in medical institutions from outpatient and inpatient care, and so far no violations have been found, she added.