Nema cautions on medical waste

By Peter Orengo

The environmental watchdog is warning that irresponsible disposal of medical waste has exposed innocent Kenyans to health hazards.

The National Environmental Management Authority (Nema) Wednesday said medical facilities in various towns were illegally disposing their waste in open dumpsites.

“Inspections in dumpsites in Karatina, Nyeri, Eldoret and Naivasha revealed a lot of medical waste is dumped in dumpsites. This waste is hazardous and a threat to the environment and people who live around there,” said Nema Director General Ayub Macharia at a meeting with Kenya Medical Association in Nairobi.

Contact with medical waste has the potential to even transmit diseases, including HIV, he warned.

Mr Macharia said the Waste Management Regulations stipulate that medical waste should be incinerated. “We are not asking all hospitals to install incinerators. Nema licenses waste transporters and this is an option for medical facilities to dispose of their waste. All we require is evidence that medical facilities have procured Nema licensed transporters to deliver waste to licensed incinerators,” he said.

In Karatina, the Town Clerk revealed that health facilities drop their waste where members of the public drop domestic wastes.

Other visits to hospitals in Eldoret and Naivasha revealed improper handling of biomedical waste. In the cases, Nema engaged doctors and administrators, who said they give waste to the council. Some doctors did not know where the waste goes.

Final notice

The Constitution stipulates that everyone is entitled to a clean and healthy environment.

Nema issued a final notice that it will close down medical facilities that do not comply with the regulations.

Section 117 (3) (f) of the Environmental Management and Coordination Act of 1999 states that environmental inspectors, “with the written approval of the Director General order the immediate closure of any manufacturing plant or other establishment or undertaking which pollutes or is likely to pollute the environment, contrary to provisions of this Act”.