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Gulu, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Gulu Regional Referral Hospital is seeking for a mini clinical laboratory and new incinerator for disposing of Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) healthcare waste.
Some of the infectious waste include used face masks; syringes, hand gloves, blades, medicinal wastes, and other associated wastes arising from services produced in the course of COVID-19 healthcare activities.
The World Health Organization calls for use of the best available technology that conforms to the Stockholm Convention to reduce emissions of dioxins and furans which can cause cancer and harm the immune system, in the disposal os such waste products and materials.
Bishop Loum Janani, the In-Charge of Integrated Case Management at the facility says that they are in dire need of a new medical waste incinerator to dispose of biomedical waste piling up from the treatment of those infected with the contagion, because the old firebox cannot handle all types of wastes.
Loum explained that the current surge in the number of patients being admitted at the facility also calls for an urgent need for a mini-lab to safeguard the main hospital’s general laboratory from contamination.
While responding on the need for mini lab Dr Joyce Moriku Kaducu, the Minister for Primary Health Care, said that the establishment of a laboratory at Gulu University is in the offing. She added that once established, the lab will complement and bridge the gap of test labs in the region.
According to the Ministry of Health, the newly launched laboratories to test for the COVID-19 at the border points and in Kampala are not able to presently carry out anticipated tests due to a lack of reagents.
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