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…