Poor waste management plagues Oshakati hospital

Feral cats invading the maternity ward and the incinerator at the Oshakati State Hospital has been blamed on poor waste control.

This according to the University of Namibia’s (Unam) recently-held ‘Unam Cares’ health education outreach clinic at the hospital.

Through Unam Cares, the university conducted two site visits alongside the Oshakati town council, the Namibia Agronomic Board, the Have a Heart spay and neuter project and the Society for Prevention of Cruelty Against Animals (SPCA).

The team compiled a written report with recommendations on how to address the issues.

One of the key findings is that the hospital does not have standard operation procedures (SOPs) on waste management in place.

The cats’ invasion of the maternity ward presented the tip of the iceberg, the team said, adding that the actual problem was caused by poor waste control systems.

The team identified that there is an insufficient supply of colour-coded plastic bags, resulting in the mixing of different types of waste.

“The cooling storage room has not been in working condition for the past six months, resulting in pilling-up medical waste being transported to Onandjokwe hospital,” the report read, adding that there were no keys to open rooms for inspection.

Lack of maintenance

The report added that there is no maintenance place for the hospital’s incinerator, which resulted in the first burner not working.

“One of the non-functional incinerators is used as an ‘oven’ to burn waste. This is prohibited and poses an enormous environmental health risk, not only for the hospital but also to the surrounding residents,” the team found.

Meanwhile, the pilling-up of medical waste at the incinerator has led to the feral cats feeding on medical waste, which poses serious risks for disease outbreaks, it said.

Other issues include a limited number of functional bedside cupboards in patients’ rooms and food left standing unattended and uncovered.

“The lack of proper food storage and food handling in the maternity ward by patients attracts the feral cats.”

Challenges

According to Oshakati medical superintendent Ruben Kanime, while the hospital had protocols in place, there have been challenges.

“The hospital has been managing, but there are challenges due to resource constraints. We run out of colour-coded plastics which are crucial for segregation of waste,” he said.

He added: “We are both a training and service-providing institution. We constantly receive new people who are not familiar with how to separate the waste”.

He listed ageing infrastructure as another challenge, and said one of the incinerators has “been there for years”.

“We serve a large population. District hospitals, when their facilities are down, they bring their waste to Oshakati and that may burden the hospital. When the incinerators are not functional, the waste is not collected and managed, which proves to be another challenge,” Kanime said.