Myndighederne i Ghanas hovedstad garanterer et stop for udledning af giftigt medicinsk affald i byens vandforsyning – også på tide, da hospital har ledt affaldet direkte ud i åbne kloakker i et år .
Accra municipal authorities (AMA) have assured city residents that toxic medical waste from one of the city’s hospitals will no longer be dumped into their water supply, accord to the Canadian organisation Journalists for Human Rights.
Old facility
Military Hospital 37 is one of Ghana’s oldest medical facilities. Just over a year ago the pipe meant to take medical waste, from the mortuary, maternity and surgical theaters, away for treatment was damaged and rendered inoperable.
Unable to fix the line, the hospital began to dump the highly toxic bio-medical waste into the open sewers of Accra.
Vital artery
The gutters and run-off tributaries of Accra are a vital artery for water delivery. The pipe-supply grid is nearly non-existent in many parts of the city. People use the water for washing, and growing personal and commercial vegetable gardens.
Complete overhaul
The AMA has made a public promise to ensure that there is an immediate halt to the dumping, a complete overhaul of the hospital’s drainage system, an assessment of the environmental damage and the hospital pays for the cost of any associated clean-up.
The AMA has also promised to look into pressing charges of negligence on those who had approved the dumping.
AMA’s decision to take action follows media coverage about the consequences of neglicting the problem with the toxic waste.
