Experts lament poor of waste management

By Akinnodi Francis, Ondo
|
Experts have lamented the poor knowledge of waste management among health workers, the absence of comprehensive data, and the low public awareness of the potential dangers posed by healthcare waste.
They disclosed this at a meeting held on ‘Legal, Policy and Implementation issues in Healthcare Waste Management’ organised by the Faculty of Health Law and Humanities in collaboration with the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health of the University of Medical Sciences (UNIMED), Ondo.
Dean, Faculty of Health Law and Humanities, Professor Leroy Edozien, explained: “Healthcare waste is any waste produced in hospitals, laboratories, research facilities and homes as a result of medical procedures.”
Edozien who spoke on behalf of the experts added that healthcare waste poses harm to health workers, the public, and the environment.
According to the experts, “Lagos State is ahead of other states in the implementation of healthcare waste policies.”
They said a new national policy, replacing that of 2013, will soon be released. They therefore encouraged that the policy be backed by primary legislation.
Given the lamentable state of healthcare waste management in the country, the experts recommended that state governments should enact policies, regulations and statutes to promote good practice in the management of health care waste.
“Federal and state governments should make specific budgetary provisions for healthcare waste management, the education and training of health workers in the management of waste should be prioritised and the environmental health workforce should be expanded in order to facilitate implementation of extant policies.”
Experts at the meeting included Dr Obiora Ezeudu of the Dept of Civil Engineering, University of Victoria, Victoria, Canada; Dr (Barr.) Rotimi Adeyemi, Secretary, West African Postgraduate College of Environmental Health; Dr Cyril Akinyele, President, Environmental Health Officers Association of Nigeria, Lagos State Chapter; Hon. Revd. Francis Ejiroghene Waive, Member, House of Representatives representing Ughelli North, Ughelli South and Udu Federal constituency; Dr Augustine Ebisike, the pioneer Registrar of the Environmental Health Officers Registration Council of Nigeria; and Malam Hassan Sambo, Head of Environmental Health department, Federal University of Health Sciences Teaching Hospital, Azare, Bauchi State.
Early,welcoming the participants to the meeting, the Vice-Chancellor, UNIMED, Professor Adesegun Fatusi, said that, “UNIMED has led the way by devising healthcare waste management guidelines for its campuses”.
He further said that this should be taken to the national level.
According to him, “this accounted for convening this meeting to brainstorm on how our society can be helped in healthcare waste management”.
The organisers, however, pledged to follow up the recommendations with the appropriate authorities and stakeholders for implementation.