Senate Advances Bills to Tackle Medical Waste and Improve Access to Specialized Healthcare

On Friday, the Senate Committee on Health, Hospitals, and Human Services advanced two bills that are expected to make small but meaningful changes to the territory’s health sector. The first, Bill 35-0408, was sponsored by Senator Donna FFrett-Gregory and would require the Department of Health and the Department of Planning and Natural Resources to develop and administer a regulated medical waste management plan for the territory. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention maintains that any facility that generates “regulated medical waste” should have a regulated medical waste management plan. The territory does not, despite its two major hospitals and several smaller medical clinics and facilities. “Our territory currently does not have a clear policy other than ‘ship the waste off-island’,” Senator Frett-Gregory noted.  She considered the legislation “timely” as “we are moving to rebuild hospitals and medical facilities in the territory.” According to the lawmaker, “we must...