Doctors set to pay $300 per month to burn syringes

PRIVATE doctors might have to pay $300 per month for used syringes to be disposed of under the Government's proposed 'polluter pays' principle.

The Government's proposed clinical waste disposal system will segregate, package and collect clinical waste like used syringes and dressings soaked in blood before burning them in a centralised incinerator.

The collection system will be backed by a licensing system to impose penalties on medical workers and waste collectors who fail to comply with safety standards.

But members of a joint environmental and health services panel in the Legislative Council expressed fears that taxpayers and patients would have to foot the estimated costs, including the proposed $262 million incinerator.

Officials said the Government would continue to bear the costs of waste disposal at public hospitals and said the impact on private practitioners would be minimal.

It was estimated to cost $7,000 per tonne to collect and dispose of the medical waste.