By Roselyn Phiri

Lilongwe, January 26, Mana: Ministry of Health, with support from the Global Fund, has installed an incinerator at Zomba Central Hospital designed for high volume waste management at the facility as well as other health facilities surrounding the district.

Minister of Health, Khumbize Kandodo Chiponda, and officials from the Global Fund visited the site earlier this week to appreciate the installation progress.

After touring the works for the housing of the incinerator machine, the Minister was satisfied with the progress which has been made so far.

“I am very satisfied with this incinerator housing. As you are aware that when managing a hospital, you get infectious waste in different forms and as such waste management is a very important part of hospital management.

"That is why we have to be strict on how we manage each and every waste which comes from the hospital from our patients and medical supplies which we use. At Zomba Central Hospital, waste management was really problematic and I am sure that once this machine starts operating it will make a change.

“We had to ask for the support from the Global fund and they supported us. This is why we are here inspecting. The installation of incinerator is almost finished," said Chiponda.

She said by using the machine, it will protect the surroundings and even the environment.

Zomba Central Hospital Director, Dr Saulos Nyirenda, thanked Government of Malawi and the Global Fund for the initiative.

Nyirenda explained that the incinerator will be beneficial to more than 15 health facilities surrounding Zomba Central Hospital saying the current way of managing the waste at the hospital is not optical.

“The main problem that we have now is that we use the traditional way of burning waste but waste from the hospital includes metals, and heavy duty plastics so we use diesel or petrol to burn these things and it does not generate enough heat to completely burn the materials. It is risky for both our workers and the community.

"With this machine, we will be able to completely burn waste into ashes. As such, we will create a safe place for our people and the environment,” he said.

Programme Manager for Global Fund, Doreen Sanje, said they have been supporting Government of Malawi since 2003 and will continue to do so.

“We are still committed to supporting Malawi and what is important is to ensure that the resources given should be used satisfactorily,” she said.