Editorial
Disposal of medical waste in Ghana …a harmful practice to the public
Dear Editor,
Medical waste is a dangerous waste generated by hospitals, clinics, health-care centres, laboratories and many others. This waste is usually generated during medical research, testing, diagnosis, immunisation or treatment of either human beings or animals. Some examples are culture dishes, glassware, bandages, gloves, discarded sharps like needles or scalpels, tissues and many more. Before the 1980, the regulations around medical waste were pretty loose.
Due to the hazardous nature of medical waste, it must be properly treated and disposed of to avoid possible contamination. Even though waste in general needs to be treated properly, medical waste needs extra attention and treatment. After all, medical waste placed in a domestic or council waste bins, must be disposed of properly.
Also, items that have been saturated and have more than trace amounts of body fluids need to be properly contained, treated, and disposed of as they carry the potential risk of spreading diseases and viruses.
Incineration is done with a machine called incinerator. This is a commonly used method, however, it generates harmful substances such as dioxin, and others.
While incineration of medical waste generates harmful substances such as dioxin and furan, steam sterilisation (autoclave) is environmental -friendly, mature and most economical non- incineration technology to process medical waste. The preferred method with the least impact on the environment is having it treated by autoclave. These devices use pressurised air and steam to sterilise the waste and can be used to treat 90 per cent of medical waste. It was founded in 1995 and it is the leading supplier of medical waste treatment in China. It is to provide clients a comprehensive medical waste treatment solution, one-stop supplying and high quality products with latest technology. The disposal capacity of a single autoclaves is from 1 -20 tonnes per day and free combination of autoclaves and full automatisation of the plant is available.
With the placenta and other human “tissues”, the law says it must be incinerated at a high temperature or buried at a significant depth and not to be placed in domestic or council waste bin.
Improving waste collection coverage of municipal areas, introducing mass community awareness raising and information campaigns will help to address negative community attitudes towards waste management.
Serwaa Marfo
Student, Ghana Institute of Journalism
Editorial
Kudos to Ho Teaching Hospital staff, but …
Dear Editor,
If there is any group of professionals that get bad-mouthed the most, then you are referring to nurses and medical doctors assigned to public hospitals across the country.
For this particular letter, I want to sing the praises of this same group of professionals that work at the Ho Teaching Hospital, famously known as Trafalgar.
Despite the work load and the mass casualties received at the emergency ward of the hospital, the welcoming nature of the nurses and the professional touch by the doctors can’t be ignored. My personal experience has got me travelling from my base in Accra to seek medical services from these professionals.
Special mention has to be made of the likes of Precious of the Pharmacy Department, Dr Brandon Banor (a maxillofacial resident) of the Dental unit, male nurse Justice assigned to the female surgical ward. Words cannot really do justice to their affable, professional caring nature. A simple thank you is all that I can say.
In the same vein, I can’t but call out the bad attitude of the auxiliary staff and contractors of the hospital.
Chief among them is some of the contracted bank staff that handle the payment section of the hospital and the patient registration section (those that check the status of the patient as to whether they are fee paying patients or NHIS sponsored).
The attitude at times leaves a bad taste in the mouth. One such occurrence was a night staff of the registration section who had her legs on the office table whilst talking to patients.
The CEO of the hospital needs to shine his torch light on this support sections before they erode the awesome performance of the direct medical staff of the hospital.
Thank you for the space.
Kwesi Manu
Accra
Editorial
Develop policies to address disability concerns
Dear Editor,
AT the beginning of the year, when I went to the bank to deposit money into my uncle’s account, I observed a very sad situation where a man in a wheelchair struggled to navigate his way around the facility.
This is because the structure is disability unfriendly.
As I stood and watched how the man struggled to move his wheelchair, I felt sad and wondered if this is how the life of a disabled person should be. It becomes worse if there is no one to offer help.
In Ghana, People With Disabilities (PWDs) are often treated differently and are often subjected to all forms of discrimination.
Most of these people find themselves in such a situation as a result of unfortunate happenings such as accidents and injuries.
It is, therefore, not appropriate for anyone to discriminate against them. Discrimination against such persons take many forms, including how buildings are constructed.
Most of the public structures are not disability friendly and impede their movement.
As a country, we should consider the PWDs in designing our structures. I also think that there should be a national policy that seeks to address this issue.
I have a strong conviction that when such a policy is developed by the government, people with disabilities would feel appreciated and also promote social inclusivity.
Ray,
Kasoa
