Lagos Presents Policy On Medical Wastes

The Lagos State Govern
ment has presented a draft policy for Healthcare Waste Management to regulate and inculcate best practices on all frontiers.
According to a press statement issued by  the Public Relations Officer of the State Ministry of Environment, Mr Mukaila Sanusi, in Lagos, the draft policy was presented at the ongoing 8th Lagos Healthcare Waste Management Summit in Lagos. Sanusi stated that the policy was part of the communiqué agreed upon at the 2013 summit.
According to the statement, the Commissioner for the Environment, Tunji Bello, affirmed that the draft policy was in line with the state policy on environmental sustainability.
He, therefore, urged all Lagosians to comply with the new policy.
“I wish to reassure all of us of the continuous government reward packages for all those who imbibe change in healthcare waste management,’’ Bello was quoted as saying in the statement.
According to the commissioner, the draft policy was one of the government’s efforts towards healthcare waste management.
He listed the efforts to include government’s willingness to partner with private investors to manage, on build and transfer basis, the healthcare waste treatment facilities across the state.
Bello recalled that the state government had constructed three transfer loading stations (TLS).
The third station, he said, was ready for management concession through the public private partnership (PPP) arrangement.
He also said that the government was using the annual summit to inform, educate, sensitise and make resolutions on positive actions to address issues of healthcare waste.
“I wish to reiterate the government’s support for the sustainability of this programme through regular distribution of consumables at no cost to healthcare facilities.“As at today, we have distributed 26,000 red bins liners, 26,000 yellow bin liners, 26,000 brown bin liners and 3, 650 sharps safety boxes monthly.
“These are in efforts to promote on-source waste segregation, which have yielded 80 per cent compliance,’’ he added.