HEALTH CARE RISK WASTE MANAGENT
IN KWAZULU-NATAL.
MR.SIPHO .B. MSIMANG.
KWAZULU-NATAL DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Mr.S.B. Msimang is Deputy Director: Environmental Health and has been with the Department of Health since 1982. Amongst his main functions he is co-coordinating and ensuring the effective implementation of the Strategy for the Management of Health Care Risk Waste. This strategy document that has been developed has been adopted as a Departmental Policy Document by the Provincial Department of Health.
ABSTRACT
This paper aims to explain the approach used by the Directorate: Environmental Health in attempting to address the problem of poor and/lack of management of Health Care Risk Waste from the public health institutions in the Province.
The paper looks at the problems that have been identified through a situational analysis that was carried out, the strategic approaches that are being implemented to address the identified problems in the management of health care risk waste and the challenges faced in the implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the strategy.
It is hoped that from this paper valuable inputs and contributions that will improve the Strategy document will be received from the conference participants.
HEALTH CARE RISK WASTE MANAGEMENT
IN KWAZULU-NATAL
1. INTRODUCTION:
The poor and inadequate management of health care risk waste has been recognized as a significant environmental and public health risk. The special risk that health care risk waste poses to the health care workers, patients, communities and the environment, together with poor level of health care risk waste management, has resulted in the need for the improvement of health care risk waste management standards.
To attempt to address the identified environmental and public health risks posed by poor management of health care risk waste the Department of Health developed a strategy for the management of health care risk waste. The strategy has adopted an incremental approach in which any improvement is better than none, even if the standards may not be what would be desired.
The purpose of the strategy is to assist health care facilities in the Province in establishing and implementing a uniform programme for the effective health care risk waste management control to meet minimum standards.
The following sections deal with the elements that are contained in the strategy document.
2. PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION:
A situational analysis of the current health care risk waste management practices was carried out and the problems identified as listed were addressed accordingly;
2.1. Public Health Care Facilities are the biggest generators of health acre risk waste.
2.2. Lack of knowledge on the appropriate technologies and practices for the proper management of health care risk waste.
2.3. Poor training on hospital hygiene for all non-professional hospital staff.
2.4. Lack of resources required for proper management of health care risk waste in small rural hospitals and clinics.
2.5. The main concern of the infectious health care risk waste is the transmission of HIV/AIDS virus and more often, of Hepatitis B virus through injuries caused by syringe needles contaminated with human blood.
2.6. Poor incinerator operation procedures and maintenance.
2.7. Lack waste information system
2.8. Lack of Institutional Waste Management Plans.
2.9. Lack of dedicated budget for the management of health care risk waste at public health care facilities.
3. PROBLEM ADDRESSING:
To address the identified problems so as to achieve effective and sustainable proper management of health care risk waste, the Department of Health had, in various activities such as the following;
3.1. To clearly define health care risk waste management in terms of Waste Prevention and Minimization, Waste Identification, Waste segregation/Seperation, Waste Handling and Waste Treatment and Disposal.
3.2. To establish structures for the implementation of the adopted strategy for the management of health care risk waste.
The establishes structures are as hereunder
3.3. To train the established structures and ensure that such training is rolled out in all the institutions.
· All the Institutional Waste Management Officers and all members of the Provincial Health Care Risk Waste Management Committee.
· The Institutional Waste Management Officers were tasked to roll out the training and develop Waste Management Plans within their respective institutions.
3.4. To develop a health care risk waste information system.
3.5. To include in the tender specification the detailed requirements for the best practices in the effective and sustainable management and disposal of health care risk waste from all levels of public health care facilities.
4. CHALLENGES:
Appropriate planning to meet the challenges of health care risk waste management control requires the definition of a strategy that will facilitate careful implementation of the necessary measures and the appropriate allocation of resources according to the identified priorities.
The implementation of the Departmental Strategy for the Management of Health Care Risk Waste is faced with the following challenges;
4.1. Lack of an integrated approach in the management of health care risk waste from Institutions, Sub-Districts, Districts, Province and National levels of government.
4.2. Change of human behavior and attitude to waste management through ongoing training.
4.3. Lack of Institutional Waste Management Plans.
4.4. Lack of budgeting for waste management at Institutions.
I THANK YOU ALL