The Incineration Of Medical Waste Which Affects A Country's Behavior

 

BY RAUHIYA MUSSA:

Waste has an impact and danger in human life and there are those whose danger to the life of every creature is greater.

Among them are those that are highly infectious, sharp waste or others that are non-infectious or infectious.

In this list of very dangerous wastes are the medical wastes of hospitals and health centers, including infectious wastes, highly infectious wastes, sharps wastes and non-infectious wastes.

It is the responsibility of the government and also the stake holders in the environment sector to ensure that the policy is not formulated .There are also strategies or ways to complete public health workers to ensure that health and the environment are properly protected.

It will be dangerous to dispose of this type of waste because it contains toxic chemicals that are harmful to human health.

According to statistics provided by the world health organization (WHO), sixteen billion matches are used in hospitals around the world, but not all of them are thrown away or burned as they should be.

The most recent case in Tanzania for examples in Meru where the hospitals waste and burned it in open place, endangering the lives of the people.

It will be remembered that this is a public hospital the surprising thing is that they don’t have a waste incinerator that every hospital must have or show how it will destroy medical waste before getting a license from the environment protection organization .

Also the most recent cases in Zanzibar Kendwa region and other areas where the hospitals waste and burn medical properties in open place, endangering the lives of the people  because they burn in holes and some hospitals they don’t have a hospital fence which leads to  smell of medicine which  can lead to have problems to the people  since  they are close to community environment.

 According to statistics provided by author are Meshi,E.B.,Nakamura,K., Alemi ,S.  to determine coverage and the reliability of water, sanitation, hygiene (WASH) and healthcare waste management (HCWM) services in healthcare facilities (HCFs) in Tanzania.

The data of 1066 HCFs in Tanzania from the 2014-15 Tanzania Service Provision Assessment (TSPA) survey were analyzed. The availability of WASH and HCWM services was examined across facility locations, types, and managing authorities. Descriptive statistics, and bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed.

The results HCFs with improved water sources, with functional improved latrines for patients, and using the incineration method to treat sharps waste before final disposal were 81.2%, 70.6%, and 41.3%, respectively.

Among the HCFs with improved water sources and with functional improved latrines for patients, 50.9% and 50.6% respectively experienced water outages. Rural HCFs were less likely to have water sources on-site within 500 m (AOR 0.41; 95%CI 0.24–0.68), and soap, running water or alcohol-based hand rub (AOR 0.54; 95%CI 0.37–0.80).

 Rural HCFs were 0.25 times less likely to have functioning improved latrines for patients than urban HCFs (p < 0.001). Public HCFs were 0.5 times less likely to have an incineration method for sharps waste treatment than private HCFs (p < 0.001).

In an effort to control this situation, so that it does not bring disaster to the community and the nation as a whole, the Zanzibar Ministry of Health has decided to build a hospital medical waste incinerator.

The center will help ensure control of those who burn the waste without causing harm to human health due to the effects that we are seeing now on the change of country's behavior.

The Director of Prevention of the Ministry of Health, Doctor Salim Silim, has explained in an interview I conducted with him in his office at Mnazi  Mmoja that the government's plan includes the construction of a waste collection center in Kibele, South Unguja Region.

Later, the medical waste of the Unguja island hospitals will be burned in a way that ensures the environment remains clean and safe for citizens and living creatures.

 He has explained that steps have started to be taken to allocate funds and make a drawing for the construction of the center.

This step is very important due to the construction of 11 hospitals that will need a good and safe place to collect the waste, store it and destroy it in a way that does not cause harm to humans and living creatures.

 In addition, Doctor Salim said that, the revolutionary government of Zanzibar recognizes the importance of building a national institution to co-ordinate the analysis and elimination of medical waste from private hospitals and the government.

 "At the moment we are using the incinerator that exists in the hospitals of   mnazi  mmoja  and kivunge, but those plants do not meet the requirements due to the expanding health services in the islands of Zanzibar", said that

“This situation is the reason of setting up the medical waste incinerators away from people's residences to avoid having an impact on community members”, said that

Through the project to manage the collection of medical waste from public and private hospitals, there are vehicles for carrying the waste.  

Furthermore, there is a plan for private hospitals to pay for the weight of their medical waste in order to make the service sustainable and ensure that the health of the people is protected and the environment remains clean.

Dr. Salim explained that if an employee throws garbage carelessly and goes against the law, then, a legal action will be taken.

He has explained that on the other hand, they are dealing with the increase in the number of people suffering from malaria and the presence of outbreaks of various diseases, which goes hand in hand with the provision of immunizations to reach 68 percent of immunizations.

Zanzibar Environmental health Unit , Amina Makame Haji said that, “the careless disposal of medical waste can have an impact on the community and also affect the environment and other living organisms.”

The officer asked the hospitals that generate waste to ensure that they store the waste properly and dispose of it in safe places, so that it does not affect the community.

She said that 90 percent of toxic waste, especially those that are highly contagious, are harmful and the remaining 10 percent that are not infectious are like plastic, shells, food, boxes and paper.

 She explained that the environment department, in collaboration with the municipal councils, always ensure that the waste is sent to a safe place.

 Due to the increase in infectious and non- infectious waste, a large percentage of non-infectious waste is made into coal, dust, etc.

Infectious waste is stored in a safe place at Mnazi Mmoja hospital in a large incinerator and later, burned.

Since the hospital of mnazi  mmoja  was overwhelmed by the amount of waste, the Ministry of Health has decided to get a large plant and bring smaller ones to other hospitals.

A total of 171 health centers in Unguja and Pemba have been educated on the burning of hospital waste. So, employees have been given education on this issue.

 DPHO Distric Public Health Officer , Jabiri Suleiman Haji said that health center workers are being trained on how to separate the waste and how to dispose them in a safe environment.

 "Currently, the toxic wastes collected in 12 health centers in the western district of Unguja, are stored well and disposed of without affecting the environment and there are 30 percent of such waste and the normal ones that are not infected are 35 percent,"said that

At the same time, the climate analysis report, from the evaluation of health care waste management and infrastructure, made in December 2021 from the ministries of health in Zanzibar and Tanzania, various flaws in storing these wastes have been discovered and now those flaws are being worked on.

As well as there being the existence of poor infrastructure and the deterioration of washing services, mobilization of citizens, health service providers, shortage of waste sorting equipment and the poor planning of district teams, are also other reasons for these flaws.

The international goal of the health services program is for all countries in the world by the year 2025 to reach 80 percent of Wash – Water Sanitation Hygiene and IPC- Infection Prevention Control services and while in 2030 all countries should have quality wash services.

The assessment revealed that the performance of high IPC - Infection Prevention Control and Wash - Water Sanitation Hygiene hospitals is between 12% to 56%, which is not enough to ensure health services do not cause harm to service providers, so the services provided should never be less than 80 percent of HCFS.

Also, Lab Scientist’s Glorious Polytechnic College Khadija Ali Saleh said that the burning of medical waste is not satisfactory, we are trying to provide education to students or young people, there is a special class where they are taught how they can collect the medical waste carefully

“We make sure they are educated on how to deal with them and identify what types of waste need to be put in the bins and there are special people at the waste incineration side”.said that

In addition that, the Doctor in charge of the health center in Fuoni Sultan Shella said it happens regularly in various units, leading to the existence of challenges for health workers and leading to the effects of infection.

It is one of the strategies from the World Health Organization and implemented by the revolutionary government of Zanzibar. What should you do in health care when you have a problem at work?

“Personally, by accident, I injected myself with a person who was affected by AIDS when I was in the hospital, after receiving a patient from the emergency department, a male patient who is a school teacher came at 9:30 at night  the patient had high diabetes and was very anxious to make sure that they took tests and put medicine and drops on him, unfortunately it led to burning himself in the finger and knowing that the patient was affected by AIDS and he was dying, I reported to the head of the unit and received treatment for medication before 72 hours and also stay 28 days and then re-test your health and find that you are not affected.  “said that

Its our responsblity to maintains cleanliness and good health is important for every being and also to be carefull in the burning of medical waste as it can have an impact on society due to the changing nature of country .