Director of Facilities Management Secretariat at the GPHC Parmanand Samaroo made this disclosure during an interview with the Government Information Agency (GINA) on Monday. The system, which is being executed at an estimated cost US$1M, is about 35% into its schedule.
Samaroo said the project is being done in three phases and the first phase has been completed. A contract has been signed for the second phase, which entails installing a processing house. “The contractor will be mobilised where a representative from Hydroclave system in Canada and a supplier, Thomas Neilson from the Caribbean, will supply the system,” he said.
According to GINA, the machinery will be used to sterilise all healthcare waste in Georgetown and its environs, at a nominal fee, by converting them to harmless waste before further processing for disposal. “We are also using this model as a health care risk solution for Region 4… as we start progressing with this project we would start collecting waste as far as Mahaica to Timehri and West Demerara to bring infectious waste where it would be sterilised,” Samaroo explained.
On July 20, the ministry hosted a series of implementation workshops to sensitise and educate stakeholders and workers about the new technology. Prior to this, ministry and other stakeholders were uncomfortable with the way in which waste was being disposed of and the ministry carried out a feasibility study to generate a solution.
In November 2006, the ministry had embarked on a new waste management project initiated by the Regional Injection Safety and Health Care Waste Management Programme at the Linden Hospital Complex in Region Ten. It was also done at the New Amsterdam Hospital in Region Six. The programme entailed replacing needle use with oral substitutes.
