– modern US$1M hydroclave waste sterilisation system, already procured, to be installed shortly at Georgetown Public Hospital
HEALTH Minister Dr. Leslie Ramsammy said it is incumbent on the health sector – both public and private – to ensure that the waste generated is made harmless.
Ramsammy was at the time speaking on bio-medical waste treatment at a workshop in Regency Suites Hotel on Hadfield Street yesterday, which was a precursor to the introduction of a modern US$1M hydroclave waste sterilisation system already procured for installation at Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH).
He said the implementation will be made possible with the support of the World Bank and is expected to facilitate the GPH, as well as health care facilities in the city.
The forum yesterday was to sensitise and educate stakeholders on all aspects of the technologically advanced process, as well as foster improvement in health care waste management practices at all the targeted facilities.
Ramsammy said, with the new system to treat bio-medical waste, Guyana has moved one step ahead in its public health programme.
He pointed out that treatment of not only bio-medical but waste generated by the health sector, generally, in the past has not been recognised as a public health problem.
But, now, there has been a paradigm shift as bio-medical waste is being addressed as a priority public health problem, Ramsammy stated.
However, he acknowledged that, despite this recognition and increased awareness, there are some in the health sector who seek the easy way out and treat the bio-medical kind in the way they would domestic waste.
Regardless, Ramsammy maintained that Guyana can claim some reason to be hopeful in light of the efforts being made to address bio-medical waste, which is any solid or liquid waste that may present a threat of infection to humans.
It includes non-liquid tissue, body parts, blood and body fluids from humans and other primates, laboratory and veterinary wastes which contain human disease-causing-agents and discarded sharps.
He said, if not handled in a proper way, bio-medical waste is a potent source of diseases, like HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, hepatitis and other bacterial types posing serious threats to human health.

Four Components of the newly acquired US$1M Hydroclave Waste Sterilization System. (Vanessa Narine photos)

GOALS
Ramsammy said the health sector will realise the goals of public health, once it continues to build on the structures and processes.
“This way, we will meet the goals of public health, people living longer, more productive and disability free lives,” he posited.
Mr. Parmanand Samaroo, Director of Facilities Management at GPH, concurred, adding that the hydroclave system introduces a number of benefits.
Among those he highlighted were the reduction of bacteria to 99.9 per cent after bio-medical waste is sterilised; creation of an end product of dry waste, regardless of its original water content; no odours due to the dryness; volume reduction to about 85 per cent of the original; weight reduction to 70 per cent of the original and wide acceptance of the end product as harmless waste.
Samaroo explained that the procurement of the equipment and the effort to make stakeholders more aware are tangible evidence of what was previously discussed at different fora.
GPH Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Mr. Michael Khan, in an invited comment, agreed that the management of bio-medical waste now, significantly, reduces the danger to which people are exposed.
“I hope the private hospitals buy into the system,” he said, noting that a fee will be charged other health facilities around Georgetown, to assist with recovering the operational costs.
Khan said the innovation will be operational in a few months in the northwestern section of the GPH ‘N’ Block.
It has five components, a specially designed and dedicated vehicle to transport bagged infectious waste for treatment; a scale to monitor the waste from every health care facility; a double-walled cylindrical vessel which processes the waste; a shredder which provides post-processed shredding of the waste; a compacter to reduce the volume of treated waste; a bin to collect and store treated/compacted waste and a skip truck to deliver bins of treated waste to a municipal landfill.
The system, essentially, uses a cylindrical vessel, horizontally mounted, with one or more top loading doors and a smaller unloading one at the bottom.
The vessel is fitted with a motor driven shaft, to which is attached powerful fragmenting mixing arms that slowly rotate it. When steam is introduced in the vessel jacket, it transmits heat rapidly to the fragmented waste, which, in turn, produces steam of its own. During the process, the waste is shredded, dehydrated and harmful micro-organisms are destroyed.