Gov’t-Owned West Java Firm Processes Medical Waste From Covid-19 Facilities

A medical waste management facility at Cut Mutia Hospital in North Aceh. (Antara Photo/Rahmad)

Jakarta. The West Java provincial government’s city-owned firm Jasa Medivest has been disposing medical waste from Covid-19 facilities not just in the province but also from similar facilities in other parts of the country since the pandemic began in March. 

Director Olivia Allan said the company has seen a 20 percent increase in the volume of medical waste sent to its waste management facility during the pandemic.  

From March to April, Indonesia produced nearly 1.5 tons of potentially infectious medical waste from Covid-19 facilities around the country.

Jasa Medivest, anticipating increasing demand for its service, had increased its waste management capacity to 24 tons per day in April.

“Our capacity to manage infectious waste, including medical waste from Covid-19 facilities, is currently at 24 tons per day. We manage waste from West Java, East Java, Bali, Yogyakarta, West Sumatra, Jambi and Jakarta,” Olivia said on Tuesday.

Jasa Medivest is a subsidiary of Jasa Sarana, a medical waste management company that handles infectious waste from all types of health facilities including hospitals, labs, medical research facilities and vet clinics.

During the pandemic, it has been processing medical waste from Covid-19 facilities in West Java, including from the province’s isolation center at Gedung Badan Pengembangan Sumber Daya Manusia and its rapid test center at the National Institute Technology (Itenas) in Bandung.

Recently, the company was asked to handle waste from a Covid-19 quarantine facility in Jakarta.

“We’ve been asked by the Health Ministry to process infectious waste, including used PPEs, syringes and swab test kits from a quarantine facility in Pademangan, North Jakarta,” Olivia said.

Olivia said the company uses an environmentally safe disposal process, which includes a “Stepped Heart Controlled Air” incinerator. All medical waster goes through two 1,000-1,200 degrees Celsius combustion using two air pollution controls.

The technology neutralizes exhaust gas emissions, including acidic gas and toxic metal, to meet international emission standards.

Olivia also said the technology meets the national standard set by the Environment and Forestry Ministry.