WAMBA, Kenya, June 30 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Poor weather, security threats and bad roads have made disposing of the Wamba district hospital’s medical waste a challenge.

The nearest incinerator is roughly 200 kilometres (125 miles) away and “travelling wasn’t possible during heavy rains because connecting roads were cut off by flooding,” said Stephen Lesrumat, a medic in the hospital.

But now the north-central Kenyan hospital has an answer to its problems, and a way of cutting climate changing emissions and deforestation: A high-efficiency medical waste incinerator that uses just a fifth time the fuel of a traditional incinerator.

The wood burner, that takes advantage of strong winds in the area to drive the fires, borrows technology in fuel-efficient stoves. It can safely eliminate waste made by the Wamba hospital and from 22 other health centres in Samburu County, said Lesrumat and Ibrahim Lokomoi, the facility’s engineer.

“It has reduced the burden of traveling outside the county to eliminate medical waste,” Lesrumat said, sparing hospitals a possibly dangerous build-up of medical waste during periods when roads are impassible.

During previous flood periods, when hospital waste couldn’t be hauled, “I was stressed because the waste is poisonous,” Lesrumat said. “it might lead to health and environment damage if it accidentally spilled into the community. ”

Run-ins with al Shabaab militants may also be a hazard for some healthcare employees in Kenya driving long distances in their jobs, medics said.

“Northern Kenya is quite expansive and contains so many challenges that the government struggles to deliver services,” said Onyango Okoth the assistant commissioner of Samburu County.

Now the Wamba incinerator handles between 5 and 20 kilograms of medical waste a day.

As the burner works, a young worker clad in protective garments flips open the lid of the chamber to monitor the practice of incineration.

Viewing the last batch of waste is all but eliminated, he reaches for a barrel containing an assortment of used rubber gloves, syringes and polythene waste, pours in some of their waste, combines it with a forked rod then replaces the lid to allow the incineration to last.

The Centers for Diseases Control in Kenya estimates that every patient admitted in a hospital creates at least 0.5 kilograms of medical waste.

The following step, Kenyan clean energy experts say, may be to start incinerating waste using even more renewable resources of electricity, such as solar power.

“Kenya is investing heavily in alternative energy sources,” said Johnson Kimani of the Kenya Climate Change Working Group. “Solar and biogas must be factored in to medical waste incineration in the event the government is committed to the assurance of achieving a green economy. ”

James Lebasha, of the International Medical Corps, that helped assemble the Wamba incinerator, said the burner might be just the very first for the area.

“We hope to build additional units in morthern Kenya to allow communities access this service,” he said. (Reporting from Kagondu Njagi; editing by Laurie Goering:; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers diplomatic news, climate change, girls ’s rights, trafficking and corruption.

“We hope to build more units in morthern Kenya to enable communities access this service,” he said. (Reporting by Kagondu Njagi; editing by Laurie Goering :; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, climate change, women’s rights, trafficking and corruption. Visit www.trust.org/climate)

from: http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/06/30/kenya-medical-energy-idUSL8N0ZG1M220150630

Nanjing Clover Medical Technology Co., Ltd., Neighborhood in Nanjing city, China.