Ogun State government says it is now mandatory for all healthcare facilities in the state to adopt an environment-friendly waste management approach that will ensure waste segregation and disposal under the state‘s new waste management law.
Ola Oresanya, special adviser to the state governor on waste management, who said this while addressing a virtual healthcare waste management meeting, said the new approach would end poor handling of healthcare wastes which harbour diseases and pose risks to health workers, patients, and the public.
To make the new approach succeed, the Oresanya said the Ogun State Waste Management Authority (OGWAMA) through the instrumentality of the Waste Management Law 2020 would soon commence the immediate training of health workers on the new normal while accredited healthcare waste collectors will henceforth evacuate waste from healthcare facilities to prevent wastes from these facilities going to general dumpsites as they are to be collected and treated especially according to national and international standard.
To ease the evacuation, he urged the healthcare facility operators to henceforth separate their wastes into colour bins of Red for hazardous, Yellow for infectious, Brown for chemical, Black for general waste for easy identification of their potency and subsequent disposal.
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Speaking also, Tomi Coker, commissioner of health, said the healthcare sector would collaborate with the new waste approach for the safety of health workers, patients, and the public, adding that effective healthcare wastes management contributed to Ogun’s success of lowering the COVID- 19 curve.
Oladayo Ogunlaja, chairman of the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA), Ogun chapter, pledged members’ support for the new initiative, while Kamil Kusimo, a private medical practitioner, said with adequate training, the new healthcare waste management approach would be a huge success.
