Quezon City, Philippines -- Health Care Without Harm Asia recently welcomed PRISM Bangladesh Foundation to the Philippines to showcase how hospitals here are implementing sustainable healthcare waste management practices.

The visit, organized by the Global Green and Healthy Hospitals program, aimed to facilitate knowledge exchange between the environmental development group and GGHH members to further promote sustainable medical waste management systems and technologies.

Sister Arcelita Sarnillo of St. Paul Hospital discusses their waste management projects.

PRISM Foundation’s Executive Director Khondkar Anisur Rahman and Deputy Program Coordinator Mazharul Islam, joined by the GGHH team, toured two healthcare facilities, namely, St. Paul Hospital in Cavite, Philippine Heart Center in Quezon City, and the healthcare waste treater Safewaste, Inc. in Pampanga to learn more about how they can improve the management of their treatment plant based in Dhaka.

The Safewaste, Inc. team with visitors from PRISM and GGHH

“PRISM has been looking for organizations in the region to partner with as we endeavor to improve our management system and help educate Bangladesh hospitals on occupational safety and waste minimization,” explained Mr. Rahman. “The Philippines has one of the best policies and examples when it comes to sustainable waste management, and we thank Health Care Without Harm for tapping their wide network of partners in the waste advocacy, who demonstrated what more can be done by the organizations and institutions we are working with.”

PRISM, together with the Dhaka South City Corporation, has been jointly implementing the Medical Waste Management in the Bangladesh capital since 2005. The group manages the medical waste of about 777 health care establishments including government and private hospitals, clinics, and diagnostic centers in the city of Dhaka.  Aside from health care facilities, they also manage medical wastes from several embassies and pharmaceutical companies. They are the only waste management company providing such service in the city of Dhaka.

“We are impressed in hearing about the work that PRISM has been doing in Bangladesh and look forward to more fruitful partnerships in the future,” said Faye Ferrer, Global Green and Healthy Hospitals Coordinator. “Health Care Without Harm, especially the Global Green and Healthy Hospitals network, is happy to connect those who are working on environmental health so they can learn from each other’s best practices. Waste management still remains a crucial issue in the region, and we can all work together to solve it through each other’s experiences.”

St. Paul Hospital Cavite and Philippine Heart Center are both GGHH members. Aside from their exemplary practices on waste management, the two hospitals also work on other sustainability areas such as Leadership, Chemicals, Water, Energy. To know more about other GGHH members’ work, read about their case studies here.