The Ministry of Health is hopeful that five regional incinerators, currently under the final phase of construction, will offer a lasting solution to challenges related to the poor disposal of tonnes of toxic and infectious medical waste being generated by public health facilities across the country.
The regional incinerators are being constructed in Gulu, Lira, Fort Portal, Mbarara and Masaka to tackle the massive medical waste problem.
According to figures from the health ministry, a regional referral hospital generates about 1,000kg of toxic and infectious waste each day. This translates into approximately 330,000kg of medical waste being generated by a regional referral hospital annually.
According to the Ministry of Health data, 16 percent of medical waste in Uganda is hazardous. Of this, 20 percent is infectious, 1 percent pharmaceutical, 1 percent sharp materials, and another 1 percent is cytotoxic and radioactive waste.
Ms Susan Namukose, a Public Health Specialist at the Ministry of Health, said annually government health facilities across the country generate up to 70 million kilograms of medical waste.
Ms Namukose, however, noted that the challenge has been the proper disposal of such toxic and infectious materials to prevent them from ending up in landfills and water bodies.
An assessment conducted in 2021 in 1,484 health facilities indicated that each health facility can generate up to 45kg of medical waste each day.
According to Ms Namukose, some of the waste ends up in open fields and water bodies.
“Such waste is toxic and it can lead to infections. So there is a need to dispose of it properly,” she added.
Ms Namukose noted that part of the challenges related to poor medical waste management and disposal are access to standard incinerators, lack of training in healthcare waste management, donor aid cuts and outdated guidelines.
Mr Emmanuel Ainebyoona, the Senior Communication Officer at the Ministry of Health, said once the facilities become functional, health facilities across the country will be able to tackle the problem of waste management properly.
“The Ministry of Health is working to ensure proper medical waste management across the country. The Gulu Regional Incinerator covers the entire Acholi Sub-region, and it will be ready November,” Mr Ainebyoona said.
The construction of the Shs2.5 billion hi-tech incinerator in Oding Village, Unyama Sub-county in Gulu District, kicked off in 2022. The construction was delayed due to a funding gap, procurement challenges and land ownership disputes. It has capacity of incinerating 250kg of medical waste within an hour.
In August 2023, the government kicked off the installation of key equipment and machines such as the waste pre-treatment system, flue gas treatment system, combustor, pollution controller and automatic control machine.
“The delayed functionality of the facility is largely due to the installation of the power grid and the generators, which are currently under procurement. They [generators] are coming from abroad because the procurement is being handled by the Global Fund, which is funding part of the incinerator project,” Mr Ainebyoona explained.
Recently, the management of Gulu Regional Referral Hospital in Gulu City and that of Anaka General Hospital in Nwoya District, revealed that the facilities were struggling to safely dispose of non-biodegradable medical waste being generated at the facilities.
The public facilities, among the largest in the country, also generate domestic waste.
However, the incinerator constructed at the hospital cannot handle such a large amount of waste. To make matters worse, private health facilities within the city also use the same incinerator to destroy medical waste.
The World Health Organisation warns that poor management of waste can cause serious disease to healthcare personnel, waste workers, patients, the general public, and may severely pollute the environment and water bodies.