Daily Independent (Lagos)
Stella Odueme
3 November 2008
Lagos — Medical wastes when not properly disposed off can pose serious health hazards to the society, particularly anyone who comes in contact with them. Medical wastes are generated by hospitals and classified into different categories, including pathological and infectious, sharps, anatomical, highly infectious and radioactive wastes, which can pose serious danger to the people and the environment when not properly handled and disposed off.
Segregation is therefore advocated at the point of generation and this is in four categories: Non-infectious wastes, which include paper/packaging material and food, among others, in a black coded bag; infectious wastes, which are blood/iv fluid lines; gloves, gauze/dressing and others in yellow coded bag; highly infectious wastes in red coded bag while sharp wastes, such as broken slides, lancet, broken ampules, retractables, needles, infusion sets, scalpels, blades and broken vial are to be placed in yellow coded safety boxes.
It was in the effort to ensure effective planned system of controlling the production, storage, collection, transportation, processing and disposal of medical wastes that the Third Lagos Medical Waste Summit was held on October 30, 2008 with the theme 'Doing it Right' at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Idi-Araba. The first summit took place in 2006 while the second edition was last year. Just like the previous ones, there was technical session where experts lectured on the topic.
These efforts are being facilitated by the Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) in partnership with the Ministry of Health and other agencies. The graveness of the dangers of improper disposal of medical wastes is indeed disastrous, and the waste agency in its commitment at saving the society paid the ultimate price, as it lost one of its workers, Ejaeta Edward Onowenerhi. Described as committed to the course, he was diagnosed of hepatitis 2 and died in the process.
LAWMA General Manager, Mr. Ola Oresanya, said the objectives of the summit included ensuring continuity and sustenance of the initiative, showcasing the extent of health care/medical management in the state and emphasising on key issues, such as the use of colour coded bins liners. Others are to encourage healthcare facilities through adequate budget for health care waste management and to create awareness on the need for instituting health care waste management committee within the facilities, among others.
Speaking on the successes of the efforts since the inception of the summit, he noted that the synergy between LAWMA and Ministry of Health had been able to draw the attention of appreciable 45 per cent of health care facilities in Lagos to proper medical waste management while LAWMA had equally received support in form of supply of injection safety boxes through the health ministry and John Snow Incorporated. Oceanic Bank Plc has also been helping in the production of coded bin liners, just as the state government is procuring ECODAS shredding and sterilising equipment for effective medical waste management in the state.
According to him, proper medical waste management also involves all administrative, adequate budgetary provisions, legal and strategic planning as well physical handling of waste and landfill management. He called on all health care facilities to rise up to the challenge in the interest of the people.
While presenting post-humus award to the wife of the late Ejaeta, Orasanya assured that the fight against improper disposal of medical wastes would continue until the society is free of its menace. His daughter was equally given scholarship by the waste management agency.
Chief Medical Director of LUTH, Prof. Akin Osibogun, who was the chairman on the occasion, said that infectious medical waste could lead to spread of infectious diseases, and, therefore, must be properly disposed off.
"These wastes when improperly handled have harmful effects resulting in environmental pollution, reduce human reproductive capabilities, nosocomial infections and highly infectious diseases, such as HIV and hepatitis, which could affect both workers and patients directly and therefore have an indirect effect on the community and the nation at large through a negative impact on the nation's manpower and natural resources," he said.
For him, just as the theme indicates, all efforts should be geared towards proper medical waste management and above all strive to achieving a system of sustainability.
"There should be renewed effort to getting medical wastes under control by strict adherence to policies presently in place on healthcare waste management. Efforts to inject more funding into healthcare waste management to achieve the goal is necessary," he noted.
Lagos Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris, noted that Lagos had the highest number of health facilities in the country with two tertiary health facilities, 26 general hospitals, about 190 primary health care centres and over 6,500 private health facilities.
"The medical wastes generated daily pose a great challenge to the authorities, therefore, its effective management is very crucial. Waste management policies must be put in place at all levels with adequate infrastructure in place. There should be training of health workers to ensure proper process of management," he said.
Idris, represented by Dr. Atinuke Onoiga, canvassed that all healthcare facilities irrespective of size, must join hands to ensure that the society and the environment are free from the menace.
He called on Health Facilities Monitoring and Accreditation Agency (HEFAMAA) to go all out to sanction erring health facilities found to be mishandling medical wastes in the state.
"Some progress has been recorded in the last two and half years largely due to the tireless work by LAWMA. However, there is still room for improvement. Changing people's attitude and practice has been very challenging particularly in the area of waste collection and segregation. Ministry of Health will not tolerate improper disposal of medical waste by health facilities. Anyone found by HEFAMMA would be penalised," he warned.
Chairman, LAWMA Board, Taofihi Folami, noted that prior to the yearly summit,, medical wastes were mingled with domestic wastes, which could lead to HIV, hepatitis infection, tetanus and cancer, among other diseases.
"Importance of a comprehensive healthcare management system cannot be over-emphasised, as it ensures that health workers are protected from needle stick injuries by immediate containment of injection equipment in safety boxes; patients are protected from serious infections caused by needle reuse and waste handlers are protected from exposure to infectious injection equipment carelessly discarded," he stated.
He called on health care facilities to key into the initiative by ensuring that medical wastes are segregated at the point of generation and to also make adequate budgetary provision to take care of their wastes.
AGM, Corporate Services, LAWMA, Olanrewaju Rufai, noted that man is exposed to various environmental challenges, and effective management of all forms of waste, especially medical waste, is one of them. Heath facilities must therefore imbibe the ideal method by implementing the developed policies on all forms of waste management, especially medical waste, in the interest of mankind.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 Daily Independent. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
