Health GHS Launches Manual for Health care waste management
Accra, Oct 19, GNA - Dr Ebenezer Appiah Denkyirah, Director-General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), on Friday launched a 47-page manual to serve as a Regional reference document for Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
The document would also aid institutions and organizations in the management of health care waste.
For the first time in the annals of the Sub-Region, there is a practical and explicit document that clearly provides legal, administrative and financial guidelines on a daily basis for a rational and responsible management of health care waste.
The manual, which is simplified for easy reading, understanding and implementation, was developed by the Abidjan-Lagos Corridor Organization (ALCO), a Sub-Regional Institution mandated for the prevention of HIV and AIDS, care and support, treatment and the facilitation of free movement of people and goods and along the road linking Abidjan to Lagos.
The fight against Sexually Transmitted Infections as well as HIV and AIDS along the Abidjan-Lagos corridor requires a mufti-dimensional approach to halt the potential risk of further spread of the disease along the corridor due to poor management of health waste.
The ALCO’s intervention therefore covers five ECOWAS - member countries – Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, Benin and Nigeria and whose governments have appended their signatures to the document.
The five countries have demonstrated their commitments to ensuring the implementation of the guidelines for the proper management of health care waste in their respective countries.
Dr Appiah Denkyirah in an address said although Ghana had a similar document, its implementation had not been effective and expressed the hoped that the current manual would complement the existing document to promote best practices along this corridor.
Dr Edith Clark, Programme Manager, Occupational and Environmental Health Unit (GHS), who gave highlights of the manual, described health care waste as any form of waste generated at health care facilities.
She cited examples of such waste as amputated human parts, placenta, needles and syringes used for the treatment of both persons with infectious diseases and other regular patients.
She explained that in the health facility waste could be classified as either hazardous or non-hazardous, where the former include sharp and contaminated objects that need to be packaged separately in a coded disposal bag to prevent contamination.
The manual contains basic information about the nature, generation collection, storage, transport, treatment and disposal of healthcare waste, hence its implementation would certainly ensure a culture of best practices in health facilities and borders to help minimize the incidence of infections of STIs as well as HIV and AIDS, she said.
According to her it was clear that management of such waste in the sub-Region was saddled with challenges such as ignorance among stakeholders, the absence of strong policies, legal framework and weak capacity of waste management professionals among others.
Dr Clark noted that poor management of health care waste increasingly exposes medical staff and the population to an unhealthy environment and the risk of infections.
Therefore ALCO's interventions are focused on awareness campaigns, provision of equipment for personal protection, construction of incinerators and septic tanks and partnerships with the private sector in the collection, removal and disposal of such forms of waste.
She urged all stakeholders to embrace the use of the manual to ensure a safe health care environment for both staff and patients.
GNA
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