New York - Handling medical waste generated by an Ebola patient proved to be one of the contingencies that US hospitals were unprepared for, a top US health official said, adding that it “took longer than we would have wished” to fix the problem.
The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) thought the disposal issue was resolved on September 26, just two days before the first Ebola patient diagnosed in the United States was admitted to a Dallas hospital after initially being turned away.
“But it wasn't,” said Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of CDC told reporters at a news conference.
In short, conflicting classifications on Ebola waste forced the hospital to wait for the US Department of Transportation to issue a special permit before it could move the material.
The permit finally came through on Friday, allowing Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, which is caring for patient Thomas Duncan to transport and dispose of medical waste such as vomit and diarrhoea generated during his stay.
While waiting, the Dallas hospital has held the waste at the unit where Duncan is in isolation, said Dr. David Lakey, commissioner of the Texas Department of State Health Services.
County officials have contracted with a disposal company that has received approval to transport the waste, Lakey said on Saturday, but is waiting until after the weekend to remove the items from the hospital.
Conflicting US regulations on transporting such waste caused officials to scramble even before the Dallas Ebola case.
Few US hospitals are equipped with incinerators or large sterilisers called autoclaves needed to safely handle soiled linens, contaminated syringes and virus-spattered protective gear generated from the care of an Ebola patient. The waste needs to be treated before it can travel over public roads.
The CDC advises hospitals to treat items infected with the Ebola virus in leak-proof containers and discard them as they would other regulated medical waste.
However, the Transportation Department classifies Ebola as a Category A infectious agent, meaning it is capable of killing people, rather than as regulated medical waste, which includes non-lethal pathogens. - Reuters