Zoomlion Ghana Limited, the company at the forefront of managing the disposal of medical waste at vaccination centres in the ongoing national vaccination programme, has donated trash bins to Jasikin District Hospital in the Oti Region.
The donation follows an appeal by the Administrator of Jasikan District Hospital, Mr Samuel Agbekponu, to the waste management company during a vaccination exercise at the facility on Saturday, September 4, 2021.
He praised Zoomlion for the intervention, adding that it will help the facility to keep the used and discarded vaccine vials and other ancillary supplies in them.
On the vaccination programme, Mr Agbekponu disclosed that about 600 people had as of Saturday received their jabs.
These, he said, included staff members of Jasikan District Hospital, adding that “we are still expecting more people to come for their vaccine.”
He pleaded with those who had had their first jabs of the AstraZeneca vaccine to come for the second dose.
On the disposal of the medical waste at the vaccination centres, the Regional Health Director, Ghana Health Service, Oti Region, Dr Alfred Osei Kuffuor, commended government and Zoomlion for the initiative.
He also applauded the efforts of the GHS for partnering Zoomlion in the fight against the coronavirus disease.
According to him, 5,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines received by his outfit has already been distributed to the 8 districts in the Oti Region.
“People are taking the vaccine and it has no bad or side effect on them so I encourage those billed for the second jab of the AstraZeneca vaccine to go and take their second jabs,” he encouraged.
Vaccination waste needs to be safely and properly managed with hazardous waste management protocols.
The Head of Medical Waste, Zoomlion Ghana Limited, Engineer Senam Tengey, addressing the media, stated that his company will continue to support the government and its stakeholders to fight the virus.
“Also, I want to thank GHS and other partners for giving Zoomlion the opportunity to help in the fight against Covid-19,” he expressed.
Among vaccination centres that benefited from the medical waste disposal by Zoomlion on the day were Kejebi Hospital, St. Theresa Hospital – Dodi-Papase and the Ghana Health Directorate, and Oti Regional Health Directorate- Worawora.
It is in line with the above that Zoomlion medical waste teams have positioned waste bins with colour-coded liners in all vaccination centres across the country, serving as temporary storage containers for segregated waste.
The sharp and other infectious waste materials are then collected and transported by specialised medical waste trucks deployed across the country.
The collected waste will then be treated at centralised medical waste treatment facilities through sterilization and shredding. At this point, the waste is considered safe for final disposal.
The medical waste teams of Zoomlion are collaborating with technical experts from the Schools of Hygiene in Ghana to provide medical waste management services to all vaccination centres across the country.
