Kenya: How Toxic and Infectious Medical Waste Can Be Harming Citizens
A visit to the hospital does not usually show what happens in the trunk. It is here where lost blood and body tissues and parts from surgeries, pharmaceuticals, medicine bottles — tonnes of hospital waste — go through. In the instance of the Kenyatta National Hospital, this might be as much as one tonne a day estimated to be half the medical waste generated from town. Quite understandably, it is not usually open to the general public. Most of these normally wind up in incinerators — the most economical medical waste disposal system for the majority of hospitals. But a good deal of it slips through the system to get us stressed. Best practice dictates that such ash be buried. However, as this author found out, this is much better said than done. Lack of adequate equipment to safely dispose of waste and failure to see best practices was a…
Hazardous situation: Incinerators in K-P’s major hospitals from order
PESHAWAR: Based on information gathered by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), 15 to 20 tons of hospital waste is made every day in the provincial capital alone. Nearly half of the total waste is recycled while the remainder is accumulated by the Peshawar Development Authority (PDA). LRH “To be truthful, we have one incinerator which is not in proper working condition and hardly disposes a quarter of the total waste generated,” said an official in Lady Reading Hospital while requesting anonymity. “But we have a new incinerator which will soon be functional.” The officer, who didn’t know the specific figure of the waste created, said LRH has been one of the most popular hospitals across the nation. It has over 5,000 people (at least 3,000 in outpatient and 2,000 in accident and emergency departments) from across the province on a daily basis. “The incinerator below process has some problems as…