Residents of Gikeu in Othaya, Nyeri County, are angry about the rampant public disposal of medical waste in the area.
When the national team inspected the scene, piles of medical waste were scattered around the scene, including syringes, needles, blood test samples, used gloves, wound dressing gauze, masks and cotton wool.
Residents said that garbage dumps pose a health risk to the public, especially children, because medical waste can be toxic, dangerous or infectious.
“The gates are usually not locked, so anyone can enter this place, even children. They use them as toys, which poses health risks for them. It is very dangerous, but no one cares,” the resident Said David Wachira.
According to Mr. Wachira, as the situation worsened, the local people's call for better management of waste at the dump was answered. The garbage truck, accompanied by the police, is now also dumping medical waste at the scene.
"When they started dumping waste under police escort, we played for a long time and the situation got worse. But now they even started dumping medical waste from clinics and laboratories," he added.
Due to the different nature of the disposal of specific medical wastes, medical centers should classify the wastes.
Some wastes, such as medical gauze and surgical masks, should be burned, while others need to be incinerated, and others need to be chemically treated.
When contacted for comment by Dr. CEC Kwai Wanjaria of the Nyeri County Health Service Center, he warned that medical institutions in the county that handled waste in the wrong way would have their licenses revoked.
"Once the culprit is identified, their license will be revoked because [public disposal of medical waste] is illegal and we cannot forgive it," he said.
His statement was endorsed by Dr. Nelson Muriu, Director of Health Services, who said that the county has a plan to ensure that facilities without incinerators are served.
"We have negotiated that those facilities without incinerators can take waste to public hospitals for incineration for a fee. This is to avoid public disposal of unsanitary medical waste," Dr. Muriu said.
Gikeu is one of only two garbage dumps in Nyeri County, and the other is Karidundu in Karatina. After the National Environmental Administration (NEMA) closed the Asian garbage dumps, the county started to build 600 million shilling buses at its location. Terminus.
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Initially, the Gikeu dump was an abattoir, but it was inaccessible due to flooding, so it was closed.
According to residents, the county council at the time began dumping a truckload of garbage from Othaya within a week, but as the town grew, the garbage dump expanded.
An unnamed resident said: “Today, they drive up to five trucks a day and dump them all here. Before, there were no fences and trucks would only dump on the road.”
Public health expert Dr. Susan Mambo said that improper handling of medical waste is a channel for community infection. She said this is because waste is a source of potentially dangerous microorganisms that can infect anyone who comes into contact with them.
She said: “People [in the garbage dump] may be exposed to medical waste due to injuries (such as cuts or punctures from needles), contact with skin or mucous membranes, inhalation or ingestion."
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), at least 16 billion injections are performed every year worldwide. However, not all needles and syringes are properly disposed of after use.
Read the original article about the country.
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