Sharjah: A medical waste treatment facility was launched on Monday in the Al Saja'a Industrial Area aimed at sterilising and treating medical waste.
"Wekaya will collect, transport and treat medical waste. We are planning to launch phase two of the project in the near future, which is the treatment of hazardous waste," said Shaikh Sultan Bin Ahmad Al Qasimi, Chairman of Wekaya.
"This requires a lot of work and effort, in addition to training the medical, technical and administrative personnel on the safe handling of medical and hazardous waste," he said, pointing out that the emirate currently produces 3.5 tonnes of medical waste per day.
The medical waste facility was launched by Wekaya, a company specialising in the management of medical and hazardous waste, and was inaugurated by Shaikh Sultan Bin Mohammad Bin Sultan Al Qasimi, Crown Prince and Deputy Ruler of Sharjah. The medical waste treatment facility caters to 422 hospitals and medical clinics, including 143 medical clinics, 25 veterinary centres, 257 medical centres and complexes and 17 private hospitals.
Precaution for people
"We want to have a safe disposal of medical waste, which is a sort of precaution for people in the country, especially health care workers. At the Ministry of Health, we are responsible for 1,058 clinics in the Northern Emirates and [in the long term] we want them to have a safe disposal of medical waste," explained Dr Ameen Al Amiri, the Assistant Undersecretary of the Ministry of Health for Medical Practices and Licences.
Khalifa Al Shibani, Managing Director of Wekaya, explained that the medical waste treatment plant is the first of its kind in the UAE in terms of adopted international standards.
"For big medical waste generators such as hospitals, Wekaya will provide 120 litter bins for safe storage. Wekaya's collection team will exchange these on a daily basis, providing cleaned and disinfected ones," Al Shibani said.
"In this way the handling of medical waste will be reduced to a minimum to avoid any injuries or contamination. Each collected bin will be tagged, scanned and sealed." The treatment facility has a capacity of 350 to 400 kg per hour, depending on density, with each cycle lasting 45 minutes.
The medical waste will then be transported directly to the Al Saja'a treatment facility for weighing and treatment, and then the waste will go to a land-fill. If medical establishments do not co-operate, they could face a fine of up to Dh150,000.
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