A performance audit into the management of healthcare waste at hospitals conducted from January 2017 to July 2019 found that the overall system was poor and placed healthcare workers and patients in harm’s way.
Auditor General Deodat Sharma, in his report on the audit, said that all stages in the management of healthcare waste were lax, creating human and environmental health hazards. He noted that policies and plans were not established to efficiently and effectively manage waste activities, resulting in a lack of coordination among officials.
“The absence of waste collection schedules and monitoring at each hospital led to ad hoc collection patterns which put at risk the health of patients and workers. Poor segregation systems resulted in injuries to workers from [sharp objects] in bags. The audit work was repeatedly delayed because hospitals did not provide requested documents and did not always respond to the audit findings,” the Auditor General said.