BY CHIKA OKEKE, Abuja
The Federal Government has faulted heath workers over poor handling of medical waste in their facilities nationwide, adding that such harmful practise endangers their lives, the waste collectors, as well as the community to infections and diseases.
At a 2-day sensitisation and training workshop on healthcare waste management in Abuja–COVID-19 and other healthcare waste–Minister of Environment, Mr Mohammed Abdullahi noted that the response to COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria revealed the danger of exposure of healthcare workers to medical waste.
The workshop, which was organised by the department of pollution control and environmental heath, Federal Ministry of Environment, in collaboration with Earth Environmental Health Solutions, attracted participants from the 36 States including the Federal Capital Territory.
Abdullahi observed that the required activation and support necessary for better management of healthcare waste nationwide is very poor, regretting that its a common practice in Nigeria that both hazardous medical waste and municipal wastes are combined together.
The Minister, who was represented by the Director of Pollution Control and Environmental Health in the ministry, Mr Olubunmi Olasanya harped on the need to put in place measures to prevent and control possible outbreak of diseases including COVID-19 and other preventable infectious diseases in the communities.
The minister recalled that during the pandemic, that Nigerians adopted the use of nosemasks as one of the preventive measures, lamenting that majority of the protective equipments were not properly disposed.
He said, ^We just dispose it alongside our normal waste and if peradventure somebody who used a nosemask had COV1D -19 then, the transmission rate will be increased. So, this is why we need to do something to prevent outbreak of diseases."
He said that its against this backdrop that the Federal Ministry of Environment organised a capacity building workshop for the healthcare waste managers and to also carry out assessment of the healthcare waste facilities in the country.
Abdullahi stated that appraising medical facilities was another opportunity to checkmate the poor handling of healthcare waste in the country.
The Project Consultant, San Augustine Ebisike frowned at the poor handling of medical wastes, suggesting that healthcare workers should dispose such waste in the incinerator for a healthy and sustainable environment.
He stated that dumping medical waste alongside municipal waste could trigger infections and other airborne diseases.
Ebisike requested that a copy of the communique from the workshop should be forwarded to nurses and doctors council since they handle medical waste.
He suggested that the best method of disposing healthcare waste is to dump it inside an incinerator and burn it.
One of the participants who is the Head of department, Environmental Health and Safety at the Federal Medical Centre Yenagoa, San Walson Paminola lamented the unhygienic disposal of healthcare waste.
He pleaded that the communique should be shared across the Ministries of Health and Environment, National Environmental Standards And Regulations Enforcement Agency, NESREA; Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, among others.
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