Safe ways of handling medical waste discussed

Abu Dhabi: Medical waste must be handled with care, to eliminate risks for those working in the health sector as well as those handling collection of such wastes, officials said.

"Means of handling medical waste needs continuous improvement and development of new methods to alleviate environmental concerns, avoid pollution and accidents.

"Accidents could expose workers within the workplace during the process of handling medical waste," said Majid Al Mansouri, Managing Director of the Centre of Waste Management (CWM).

Officials from Abu Dhabi Health Services (Seha) and supervisors from different public and private health care facilities also attended the seminar.

"Over 830 tonnes of medical waste was collected by us between December 2008 to October 2009 in Al Ain," said Pablo Arriberem, project Manager at Star International Waste Management, the private company contracted by the government to handle medical waste in the city of Al Ain.

"It is important to eliminate these of type of wastes safely and securely, according to guidelines", he said.