Expert Decries Poor Waste Management

Improper disposal of medical waste has been identified as a major contributor to the disease burden in Rivers State.

An expert in Environmental Parasitology, Austine Abbah, Department of Environmental Biology, University of Port Harcourt, Choba, made this  disclosure in his office, in an interview with The Tide.

Dr Abbah, also a medical Laboratory Scientist,  said the indiscriminate dumping of unsegregated  waste contribute largely to disease burden in the state.

According to him, as a town develops, the waste generated would be increased, thereby posing a lot of problems to the waste disposal system.

A look around town at refuse dump-sites indicate that there is actually no segregation of wastes and the sites are litered with domestic, industrial and medical wastes he said.

Dr Abbah noted that refuse dump sites are litered with all sorts of wastes, adding that they also contribute to environmental pollution.

What worries him, he said, is “if you look around those dumpsites you’ll see syringes, needles, and those are medical wastes, you could even see fetuses and corpses on those dumpsites”.

He said the hospitals were supposed to have incineration points where wastes would be segregated into hazardous, liquid, less-hazardous and other solid waste.

According to him, “hospitals wrap up placentas after a woman had given birth and dlump them at open dumpsites, sometimes aborted fetuses are also dumped at these refuse dumpsites.

He pointed out that scavengers go about scattering the refuse at the open dumpsites thereby exposing themselves and those they come in contact with to the danger of contracting diseases.

“These scavengers don’t help matters, imagine a scavenger picks up a needle and it is used to pick periwinkle. Those fetuses at the dumpsites, you can’t be sure of the cause of death and the scavenger cuts himself on any sharp object or picks up germs under his nails, what do you think would happen to him and the people he comes into contact with”? he said

“A lot of infectious disease can be spread through that means, diseases, like hepatitis, tetanus, cholera and food poisoing.”

Dr Abbah observed that there are regulations for proper dumping of medical wastes, but stated that these regulations are not enforced and advised that all waste should be segregated and properly disposed to reduce being exposed to dangerous wastes.

Tonye Nria-Dappa