By Neo Kolane
Some of the staffers at Motebang Hospital in Leribe have spoken out against the potential threat to their health risk due to being exposed to a pile up of medical waste awaiting incineration, in the precincts of the facility.
Common types of medical waste in hospitals include infectious waste, pathological waste, sharps, chemicals and pharmaceuticals.
Infectious waste refers to waste contaminated with blood and bodily fluids, bacteria and stocks infectious agents from laboratory work or from patients from isolation. Pathological waster includes human tissues, organs or fluids and body parts from theatres.
Sharps are syringes, needles, disposable scalpels and blades. Chemicals refer to solvents used for laboratory preparations, disinfectants and heavy metals contained in medical devises. Pharmaceutical waste is expired, unused and contaminated drugs and vaccines.
The medical waste at Motebang has been piling up at the hospital since September last year, posing a health hazard to the workers who operate the incinerator which is currently out of service and needs repair.
The incinerator machine is a mechanical unit that is built to destroy waste. This happens by burning the waste at an extremely high temperature, reducing it to ash.
The incinerator at Motebang is powered with diesel which has been lacking since September last year resulting in the waste piling up in the vicinity.
The hospital’s administrator declined to provide her name, claiming she had not received written authorization from the ministry of health principal secretary. However, she told theReporter that the incinerator was too small to accommodate all the waste. She said there were plans to buy a bigger incinerator with already available funds.
“The incinerator destroys all medical waste from 22 clinics in the Leribe district, private facilities like Kao Mine clinic and from local pharmacies, as the facility belongs to the ministry of health.
“At the moment, we are not able to burn the medical waste because we do not have enough diesel,” she said.
She said the hospital has been without a proper medical waste disposal system since last year. Most of the waste is from the kidney patients ward. complications.
“As of now, the machinery that is used to burn waste is broken even though patients still come to the hospital for different services. The bottom line is, the incinerator is not big enough to cope with all the waste from all the health facilities in the district,” she explained.
A technician at the hospital, Retṧelisitsoe Morojele said the medical waste has a pungent, putrid smell and is not a good sight. He fears it could negatively affect their health.
Morojele singled out the stench as the major concern, adding that the medical waste is piling by the day. He said this is the first time he is having an experience like this since he started working at Motebang Hospital in 2001.
One of the operators of the incinerator who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal, confirmed that the machine is limited and does not have sufficient room for a huge volume of waste. He said the solution would be to replace it with a bigger one such as that found at Queen ‘Mamohato Memorial Hospital.
“Sometimes we run out of diesel and the authorities take too long before purchasing it. When the machine breaks down it is not fixed early enough. The incinerator needs time to cool off, so it is not used on weekends.
“Ideally, we have to do the burning three to four days a week. But, given the pile up of medical waste we find ourselves having to do it five days a week.”
theReporter witnessed medical waste atop the incinerator where it was kept beyond the reach of scavenging cats and dogs.
In addition, the cages used to store amputated body parts and other waste before they are burned, were filled to the brim.
“Those there are placentas. They have been stuffed in here because the refrigerators are full. They are decomposing as you can see from the worms,” he said.
He went on to complain of poor remuneration which is not commensurate with the risks they contend with on a daily basis.
“We are given too much work; the ministry of health is failing us. Our lives are at risk; sometimes we get pierced by these needles. The smoke from the burning of the waste affects our health because we do wear protective masks,” he said.
During a question and answer session last week in the National Assembly regarding the disposal of medical waste at Motebang Hospital, the minister of health, Selibe Mochoboroane said the ministry was aware of the pile up of the waste. He attributed the situation to unavailability of diesel, and promised that the matter was being attended to.
Mochoboroane informed the House that the ministry was in the process of procuring diesel to power the incinerator and that this will be completed in two weeks’ time”
As for the need for another incinerator, Mochoboroane said the current incinerator at Motebang Hospital is adequate to handle medical waste and there is no need to build another one.
“Waste and other services at health facilities which were under the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) were done by the LMDA. During the time of transition, the ministry of health had to take over quickly,” he told the House.
The Lesotho Millennium Development Agency says that the Health Care Risk Waste Management (HCRWM) entails collection of HCRW from 179 health centres and Botsabelo Complex to 17 hospitals for incineration; the activity is divided into three lots.
Incinerator maintenance and repairs is done at 17 hospitals located in urban centres throughout the country.
Its goal is to ensure effective implementation of health care waste management and vector control activities and integration of environmental, social and gender issues in all LMDA activities.
