Medical waste dumped in Mamelodi

18/12/2014. Medical eist has been found dumped on the side of Nelmapius township. Picture: Oupa Mokoena

18/12/2014. Medical eist has been found dumped on the side of Nelmapius township. Picture: Oupa Mokoena

Published Dec 19, 2014

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Johannesburg -

Medical waste – including used intravenous drips and medicine dispensers – has been dumped along a road in Nellmapius, Mamelodi East, and on Thursday residents said they feared contracting diseases and infections from the used paraphernalia.

The tubes are still attached to the drips, and scattered alongside them are empty pill boxes and packets, sanitising liquid and medicine dispensers, and empty packets that once held syringes.

Some of the discarded waste bear labels from Steve Biko Academic Hospital, while the names of Mamelodi East residents and their physical addresses are on others.

A packet of glucose medication has a label printed on with the name, cellphone number and home address of a patient of Steve Biko.

“This goes beyond being a health hazard. It also breaches the safety of patients,” said a resident of the area, who spotted the waste earlier this week.

Asking to remain anonymous for personal reasons, the resident said the waste had very recently been dumped near the demolished Malemaville informal settlement.

“This is a route I travel along frequently, and I first noticed these on Monday,” he said.

The waste was discarded not too far from an informal dumping site used by the people of Nellmapius. “I had initially ignored what looked like a fresher, different pile, but when I drove over some of it I stopped to look closer,” he said.

He found a drip underfoot, and came back the following day to investigate further. Then he discovered names and addresses of people among the rubble.

He was accompanied by a colleague, who told the Pretoria News that while they noticed the absence of actual needles, pills and other forms of medication, they knew how dangerous it was for people to touch the pile.

“Children have the bad habit of going through trash, and they can pick up nasty infections and take them home,” he said.

The hospital had not responded to queries on the find by Thursday evening, but a staffer explained that there were companies contracted to dispose of hospital waste.

She said the companies were taken on only because of their track record in carefully removing health risks out of the reach of people, and a breach in this could result in termination.

The City of Tshwane said the incident was of major concern, and sent a team to investigate the dumped waste.

Spokesman Lindela Mashigo said: “The emergency services team has been activated and will send a Hazmat (hazardous material) response team to the site.”

He said the city’s foremost task was to ensure that nearby communities were safe, so the scene would be isolated and the medical items blocked off. “We will engage our counterparts from the Gauteng government and other roleplayers who have a task or function in cases of this nature,” he said.

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@ntsandvose

Pretoria News

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