EPA police raid medical waste disposal sites at Amiri Hospital
Hospital failed to provide proper area to dispose medical waste: Al-Dibashi
KUWAIT CITY, April 21: Environment Police affiliated to Environment Public Authority (EPA) raided the outside corridors of Amiri Hospital, where they observed environmental violations through the disposal of medical wastes in garbage bins in a manner that pose environmental and health threat to the public.
In a press statement, Head of EPA’s Capital Inspectorate Nada AlDibashi explained about the medical wastes disposed by the Amiri Hospital in the corridors behind the hospital.
She said the hospital’s actions represent a direct infringement of article No. 18 of Environmental Protection Law No. 42/2014, which obliges all installations to comply with the engineering and environmental regulations specified in the executive bylaw of the law.
As per the interpretation of this law, the hospital failed to provide a proper area for the disposal of its medical wastes, which poses environmental risks for human beings, especially since the area is frequented by rodents and insects that can transmit diseases.
The environmental law also imposes a punishment of imprisonment not exceeding three years and/or a fine ranging between KD 10,000 and KD 50,000 on those who violate its provisions.
Several personnel from the hospital attempted to block reporters from taking pictures of the location, especially where the medical wastes are dumped.
However, Al-Dibashi told the personnel that they are not supposed to stop reporters from performing their duties.
The personnel also went on to justify the reason why the hospital is disposing the medical wastes in this manner, but the environmental inspectors disregarded such justifications and insisted on proper disposal of biomedical waste materials irrespective of the circumstances of the hospital.
Meanwhile, international expert in environmental science Dr Mubarak Al-Ajmi affirmed that it is not permissible to throw medical waste in garbage bins and behind hospitals in front of pedestrians because there are conditions and standards on the proper disposal of medical wastes, as they are considered as hazardous wastes that could harm human beingss.
He explained that Ministry of Health classifies medical wastes into five categories. The first one is dry wastes which do not contain any contaminant materials. The second kind is wastes produced from procedures related to medical diagnosis, treatment and injections.
Waste
The third category is moist waste such as food remains, while the fourth kind is sharp wastes such as needles and knives used in surgery. The fifth category is the wastes produced from nuclear medicine facilities and pharmaceutical sections.
Dr Al-Ajmi stressed that all five categories of wastes must be collected and placed in different colored plastic bags and then disposed as recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) such as autoclaves, microwaves, shredding and deep burial.
He revealed that 80 percent of the hospitals in the world use incinerations, affirming that more standards related to incinerations have been introduced due to the environmental effect caused by the smoke emitting from the process which could diffuse poisonous substances into the air.
Dr Al-Ajmi urged the concerned authorities to adopt better and ideal alternatives to dispose biomedical wastes that would prevent the environment from contaminations caused by various types of biomedical wastes and could be dangerous to the public health.