Date: 25/08/2003
Source: Gauteng Provincial Government
Title: Shilowa: International Conference on Healthcare Waste Management
ADDRESS BY GAUTENG PREMIER MBHAZIMA SHILOWA AT THE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON HEALTHCARE WASTE MANAGEMENT, Sandton Convention Centre, 25 August 2003
Master of ceremonies
Minister Valli Moosa
Excellencies, Members of the Diplomatic Corps
Delegates
Distinguished Guests
Ladies and Gentlemen
I am honoured and privileged to be speaking to you and welcoming you to Gauteng for this important historical gathering in our continent - the first ever International Healthcare Waste Management Conference to be held in Africa.
I am very pleased to see that there are 270 delegates present at this conference, representing 16 countries. All of us have an important contribution to make towards the sustainable and safer management of healthcare risk waste.
Our special thanks and appreciation to the people of Denmark for the financial and technical support to the National Pilot Programme to develop a strategy and implementation plan for the management of Healthcare Risk Waste in South Africa.
The pilot programme on Healthcare Risk Waste Management has been executed in the Gauteng Province and its success has exceeded all expectations. This conference provides the platform for sharing the knowledge and learning of this and other best practices internationally.
The Gauteng Province is proud of the comprehensive healthcare waste management project that commenced at the beginning of 2000. The project has demonstrated the real and affordable improvements that we can achieve and has provided valuable experience to our country and neighbours.
We are gathered here to learn from the collective experience of the esteemed delegates to this important conference and share with you the experience we have collected over the years in Gauteng.
The impetus and commitment of the Gauteng Provincial Government to this project stemmed from the realisation that Gauteng was facing a healthcare risk waste crisis in late 1998. There were frequent reports of the illegal disposal of hazardous medical waste to landfill sites. There was deep concern in the health profession with regard to the occupational health and safety of workers exposed to risk as a result of handling healthcare waste.
Poorly designed and operated healthcare treatment facilities often leave residues and produce emissions that are a danger to the natural environment and the health of people living in the vicinity. As a caring government that is also committed to maintaining a safer environment we are determined to change this situation.
Our in-depth investigation into the problems posed by illegal and dangerous handling of healthcare waste resulted in a strategy and plan which has been implemented at two pilot sites in Gauteng - one at Leratong Hospital in Krugersdorp and the other at Itireleng Clinic in Soweto. The results have been remarkable.
The amount of misplaced general waste in the medical waste stream has been reduced from an astonishing 25% to only 7%, resulting in significant cost savings.
The amount of misplaced medical waste disposed to landfill sites has also been reduced by half.
The "peoples approach" of the pilot projects has shown that when building on the knowledge, concerns and needs of workers, including waste handlers, nurses and other health workers, we can develop well-functioning systems that significantly improve the working conditions of healthcare workers and support staff.
New equipment has been developed and tested that reduces the number and the risk of needle stick injuries and exposure to infectious materials.
The pilot projects have demonstrated that by improving systems, training and auditing of wards, we can improve the segregation of waste considerably. In the case of the pilot institutions the amounts requiring costly containerisation and treatment has been reduced by almost 20%. These savings will make it affordable to improve the quality of containers and pay for a more environmentally sustainable treatment of the waste we produce.
The pilot project has also demonstrated that it is possible to eliminate unnecessary overhead expenses incurred because of poor management of medical waste and this project has thus provided the means of making services to the public better and more efficient.
All these were made possible through the cooperation and concerted efforts of the departments of Agriculture, Conservation, Environment and Land Affairs and Health.
They have shown how departments, working together can create better and more integrated solutions. In this case we have developed solutions that address both environmental and occupational and public health issues in an integrated approach.
The joint planning and implementation of this project has allowed us to develop solutions that are both safer for the public and workers as well as being environmentally more sustainable and without increasing the costs of healthcare waste management.
We are now busy implementing the improvements that we have identified in the course of this comprehensive project.
Two new regulations will be gazetted towards the end of this year that will introduce environmentally sustainable and safe procedures for management of healthcare risk waste in Gauteng. The regulations will make provision for compulsory reporting on waste quantities, especially for the waste generated by the healthcare profession, waste disposed to residential areas and hazardous waste landfills.
This will enable government to develop sufficient treatment and disposal capacity. We will be able to follow the trends in the generation and disposal of waste and provide tools to reduce illegal, hazardous and unsafe practises of disposal of healthcare waste.
New Healthcare Waste Tenders for our Provincial Hospitals and Clinics for the containerisation, collection and disposal of healthcare risk waste will be called for in the near future providing for a more integrated service that will include training of staff, awareness activities and provisioning of safer and more environmentally sustainable containers.
Our next step will be to commence with a consultative process with local authorities, communities and health practitioners and other minor generators of healthcare risk waste to address the infectious waste generated by these sources.
We know that these minor generators only produce approximately 11% of the healthcare risk waste, but they may very well account for a far greater proportion of the risk currently posed to our communities and workers in terms of infectious waste.
Our experience will further enable national government to ensure that this is further disseminated and used nationally and in other provinces where applicable.
I would like to take this opportunity to welcome you all to Gauteng, particularly the foreign delegates who have come to Johannesburg on this cold spring morning. I believe that this pioneering international conference will contribute to the improvement of the management of healthcare waste in Southern Africa, in Africa and beyond.
I also hope that in addition to spending time in deliberations, you will also take time to experience the best that our province can offer. Those of you, who will still be around, should also attend the various joint concerts that are taking place in our province, beginning this Thursday.
Once more thank you for choosing our country and province to host this important conference.
Thank you.
For more information contact Thabo Masebe on (011) 355 6036 / 082 410 8087
Issued by: Office of the Premier, Gauteng Provincial Government, 25 August 2003
Source: Gauteng Provincial Government
Title: Shilowa: International Conference on Healthcare Waste Management
ADDRESS BY GAUTENG PREMIER MBHAZIMA SHILOWA AT THE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON HEALTHCARE WASTE MANAGEMENT, Sandton Convention Centre, 25 August 2003
Master of ceremonies
Minister Valli Moosa
Excellencies, Members of the Diplomatic Corps
Delegates
Distinguished Guests
Ladies and Gentlemen
I am honoured and privileged to be speaking to you and welcoming you to Gauteng for this important historical gathering in our continent - the first ever International Healthcare Waste Management Conference to be held in Africa.
I am very pleased to see that there are 270 delegates present at this conference, representing 16 countries. All of us have an important contribution to make towards the sustainable and safer management of healthcare risk waste.
Our special thanks and appreciation to the people of Denmark for the financial and technical support to the National Pilot Programme to develop a strategy and implementation plan for the management of Healthcare Risk Waste in South Africa.
The pilot programme on Healthcare Risk Waste Management has been executed in the Gauteng Province and its success has exceeded all expectations. This conference provides the platform for sharing the knowledge and learning of this and other best practices internationally.
The Gauteng Province is proud of the comprehensive healthcare waste management project that commenced at the beginning of 2000. The project has demonstrated the real and affordable improvements that we can achieve and has provided valuable experience to our country and neighbours.
We are gathered here to learn from the collective experience of the esteemed delegates to this important conference and share with you the experience we have collected over the years in Gauteng.
The impetus and commitment of the Gauteng Provincial Government to this project stemmed from the realisation that Gauteng was facing a healthcare risk waste crisis in late 1998. There were frequent reports of the illegal disposal of hazardous medical waste to landfill sites. There was deep concern in the health profession with regard to the occupational health and safety of workers exposed to risk as a result of handling healthcare waste.
Poorly designed and operated healthcare treatment facilities often leave residues and produce emissions that are a danger to the natural environment and the health of people living in the vicinity. As a caring government that is also committed to maintaining a safer environment we are determined to change this situation.
Our in-depth investigation into the problems posed by illegal and dangerous handling of healthcare waste resulted in a strategy and plan which has been implemented at two pilot sites in Gauteng - one at Leratong Hospital in Krugersdorp and the other at Itireleng Clinic in Soweto. The results have been remarkable.
The amount of misplaced general waste in the medical waste stream has been reduced from an astonishing 25% to only 7%, resulting in significant cost savings.
The amount of misplaced medical waste disposed to landfill sites has also been reduced by half.
The "peoples approach" of the pilot projects has shown that when building on the knowledge, concerns and needs of workers, including waste handlers, nurses and other health workers, we can develop well-functioning systems that significantly improve the working conditions of healthcare workers and support staff.
New equipment has been developed and tested that reduces the number and the risk of needle stick injuries and exposure to infectious materials.
The pilot projects have demonstrated that by improving systems, training and auditing of wards, we can improve the segregation of waste considerably. In the case of the pilot institutions the amounts requiring costly containerisation and treatment has been reduced by almost 20%. These savings will make it affordable to improve the quality of containers and pay for a more environmentally sustainable treatment of the waste we produce.
The pilot project has also demonstrated that it is possible to eliminate unnecessary overhead expenses incurred because of poor management of medical waste and this project has thus provided the means of making services to the public better and more efficient.
All these were made possible through the cooperation and concerted efforts of the departments of Agriculture, Conservation, Environment and Land Affairs and Health.
They have shown how departments, working together can create better and more integrated solutions. In this case we have developed solutions that address both environmental and occupational and public health issues in an integrated approach.
The joint planning and implementation of this project has allowed us to develop solutions that are both safer for the public and workers as well as being environmentally more sustainable and without increasing the costs of healthcare waste management.
We are now busy implementing the improvements that we have identified in the course of this comprehensive project.
Two new regulations will be gazetted towards the end of this year that will introduce environmentally sustainable and safe procedures for management of healthcare risk waste in Gauteng. The regulations will make provision for compulsory reporting on waste quantities, especially for the waste generated by the healthcare profession, waste disposed to residential areas and hazardous waste landfills.
This will enable government to develop sufficient treatment and disposal capacity. We will be able to follow the trends in the generation and disposal of waste and provide tools to reduce illegal, hazardous and unsafe practises of disposal of healthcare waste.
New Healthcare Waste Tenders for our Provincial Hospitals and Clinics for the containerisation, collection and disposal of healthcare risk waste will be called for in the near future providing for a more integrated service that will include training of staff, awareness activities and provisioning of safer and more environmentally sustainable containers.
Our next step will be to commence with a consultative process with local authorities, communities and health practitioners and other minor generators of healthcare risk waste to address the infectious waste generated by these sources.
We know that these minor generators only produce approximately 11% of the healthcare risk waste, but they may very well account for a far greater proportion of the risk currently posed to our communities and workers in terms of infectious waste.
Our experience will further enable national government to ensure that this is further disseminated and used nationally and in other provinces where applicable.
I would like to take this opportunity to welcome you all to Gauteng, particularly the foreign delegates who have come to Johannesburg on this cold spring morning. I believe that this pioneering international conference will contribute to the improvement of the management of healthcare waste in Southern Africa, in Africa and beyond.
I also hope that in addition to spending time in deliberations, you will also take time to experience the best that our province can offer. Those of you, who will still be around, should also attend the various joint concerts that are taking place in our province, beginning this Thursday.
Once more thank you for choosing our country and province to host this important conference.
Thank you.
For more information contact Thabo Masebe on (011) 355 6036 / 082 410 8087
Issued by: Office of the Premier, Gauteng Provincial Government, 25 August 2003
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