A report from the General Audit Office of the City of Buenos Aires (AGCBA, for its acronym in Spanish) argues that the Fernández Hospital stores hazardous waste that should be treated off-site. This happened because "at present, companies located in the Province of Buenos Aires are unable to treat the hazardous liquid waste generated in the Federal Capital due to changes in current regulations," says the control body.

For these modifications, the service of collection, treatment and final disposal of waste generated in the hospitals of Buenos Aires must take place through operators with plant in the provinces of Santa Fe and Córdoba or, if not, hiring a carrier who presents certificates of Management of waste located in those provinces.

The waste that the report deals with are the so-called Y6, composed of "organic solvents, such as xylene (a harmful chemical that at high exposure can cause alterations in the central nervous system), alcohol, formaldehyde and nitric acid (toxic liquid that can Serious burns). "

Faced with hiring difficulties, the Buenos Aires Ministry of Health recommends that hazardous liquids be stored in suitable drums and spaces restricted to public access. According to the AGCBA, the Hospital "does not have a specific place to store" the 70 liters of Y6 waste produced per month, since it places them "in the reservoir of pathogenic waste (from waste materials that may be infected)."

The report, approved last year on data from 2007, explains that Fernandez "must face such situation, until there is a new recruitment of operators based in the provinces mentioned."

On the other hand, and for other types of corrosive waste, the Y16 from the Radiology area, the work of the Audit says that the Hospital allowed the CTyT Company in charge of the treatment of the 1,500 liters of chemicals per month Y16, work without Environmental certificate.

According to the Audit, such waste receives an on-site process, through which "it is allowed to be disposed of in the sewage system," and CTyT "was the only waste in the City that carried out this procedure."

Upon expiration of its certificate, in April 2007, CTyT sent an application for extension to the Secretariat of Environment and Sustainable Development of the Nation, which was rejected eleven months later in March 2008. However, Fernandez "allowed the provision of such service until November 2008 even though the company was not in legal condition," the report said.

The City Audit explains that "its non-treatment would have involved the storage of such waste in drums, until a new recruitment arose."