Statement issued by Jack Bloom MPL, DA Gauteng health spokesman, July 22 2011:

MEDICAL WASTE BUILDS UP IN GAUTENG HOSPITALS

Medical waste is again building up dangerously at Gauteng hospitals because a major waste company is owed millions of rands. There are about 300 uncollected boxes at the Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital, and other hospitals also have huge amounts of uncollected waste.

This has occurred because Buhle Waste has slowed down collection because it is owed money by the Gauteng Health Department. Buhle usually gets paid about R3.6 million a month, but the department has slowed down payments because of cash flow problems

We cannot go on like this. Each week there is a new crisis because of non-payment of suppliers. This needs to be sorted out quickly.

Statement issued by Simon Zwane, Gauteng Health and Social Development, July 22 2011:

Plans in place for medical waste removal

The Gauteng Department of Health and Social Development would like to assure the public that measures have been put in place to remove the medical waste from Gauteng hospitals.

The company contracted to the department, Buhle waste services is in the process of removing waste today.

There has been a delay in collections as a direct result of challenges with treatment capacity in the country as a whole. Instead of daily collections at our academic hospitals as an example, collections were done 2 to 3 times per week.

The backlog was caused by lack of sufficient approved treatment facilities such as incinerators and alternative technologies throughout the country. Health care waste can only be treated at approved treatment plants with permits from Department of Environmental Affairs.

The Gauteng Health Care Waste Regulations allows us to store general health care risk waste for 90 days under controlled circumstances which we have in our facilities. These 90 days include sharps as well as anatomical waste which is stored in freezers which we have in all our facilities generating pathological waste such as placentas. Unfrozen pathological waste can be stored for 72 hours before collection.

The backlog is expected to be cleared by this weekend.

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