The department said that only one-third of the 139 hospitals in HCM City were equipped with proper wastewater treatment systems, while the remaining facilities and an additional 300 healthcare centres had neglected the issue.

Pham Van Nghiem, head of the municipal Health Department’s Professional Division, said that a majority of hospitals’ wastewater treatment systems in the city were set up years ago and had still not been upgraded or renewed yet.

According to Nghiem, the wastewater treatment system at Cho Ray Hospital was built nearly 50 years ago. The original system had been constructed to facilitate a capacity of 500 patients, but currently the hospital treats about 30,000 patients a day.

Nghiem noted that 20 per cent of the total hospitals’ untreated wastewater contained material hazardous to the environment and people’s health.

"Typically, waste water from medical products that were used for cancer treatment can cause cancer to those who come in contact with the material. People who work in dredging or residents living by rivers can be affected," he said.

Head of the municipal department’s Environment Management Division Tran Nguyen Hien, said that it was inappropriate to fine hospitals without proper wastewater treatment systems.

"Many would pay millions of dong if fined, rather than spending billions, even tens of billions, of dong to set up a new system," he said.

The city has been allocated VND60 billion (US$3.3 million) every year to upgrade or build new medical wastewater treatment systems. However, Hien said a number of hospitals still did not have a proper system because they were unable to draft investment plans due to staff shortages.

The municipal People’s Committee also recently approved a policy which would affect hospitals’ investments for wastewater treatment, said Hien.

The Viet Nhat Company had invested VND20 billion ($1.1 million) into building wastewater treatment systems for the Children’s Hospital No1 and the Hung Vuong Hospital, said Hien.