UMC turns up heat on medical waste

University Medical Center has issued an ultimatum to the company that collects its medical waste -- get a business license or face repercussions from the hospital's board of trustees.

UMC informed Environmental Technologies of Nevada Inc., a subsidiary of Silver State Disposal Service, on Sept. 29 that it learned the medical-waste management company does not have a business license in North Las Vegas to operate an autoclave furnace.

The hospital said in a letter to the firm that it feels their contractual agreement has been breached as a result of this discovery.

Environmental Technologies uses the autoclave at 3060 N. Commerce St. in North Las Vegas to heat medical waste to make it safe to bury at its Apex landfill, 19 miles north of Las Vegas.

Kimberly Rolston, assistant administrator of procurement at UMC, informed the company that if the default wasn't settled by Oct. 23, it would be placed on the hospital board of trustees' agenda for appropriate action.

"I haven't had any response (from Environmental Technologies)," Rolston said Friday. "Not a peep."

Attempts to reach the company's representatives for comment were not successful.

On Nov. 4, 1997, UMC awarded its medical-waste contract to US EnviroMedical Corp. (US Med), a now defunct company that submitted the lowest bid of $135,268 per year.

Environmental Technologies was the second-lowest bidder at $165,234 per year.

US Med was shut down in March after the North Las Vegas Police Department served four search warrants on the company, then located at 3890 Walnut St., for illegally burying medical waste on its property.

The North Las Vegas City Council revoked US Med's business license on April 1.

UMC sought to re-award its contract to Environmental Technologies, based on Nevada statutes that state if a contract cannot be fulfilled, it must go to the next-lowest bidder.

But Environmental Technologies at one point in an April 3 letter told UMC that the original bid was an "exclusive 45 percent discount rate" and was no longer offered.

When UMC refused to pay the higher fee, the company agreed to its original bid, and the UMC Board of Trustees approved a three-year contract on April 21.

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