Medical waste is illegally sold on the market. They present dangers to public health.
Hazard. Street vendors sell medical waste. In Anosibe, they display them on their shelves, in complete peace of mind. “Our customers buy them to vaccinate their poultry,” says a saleswoman in Anosibe, wary of our series of questions, in front of a pile of syringes and needles already used a few days ago. She sells them for between 200 and 3,000 ariary, depending on the size and type of tube. Other medical waste is sold illicitly in the streets of Antananarivo, such as oxygen pipes, medicine bottles and bottles that were used for taking samples. These merchants were hesitant to tell us regarding their suppliers.
“We buy them from the Municipal Company of Antananarivo (SMA), it is garbage collectors from hospitals who sell them to us”, they say.
These traders do not really care regarding the risks they expose themselves and their customers to, in handling this medical waste. “We clean them well with soap and water before selling them,” they say, while affirming that they have been in good health since the time they started selling this waste. Their only concern is sleeping on an empty stomach at night.
Incinerateurs
And yet, this medical waste is dangerous. “These syringes and needles were in contact with the blood of a sick person, and with drugs that were injected into him. There is therefore a risk of transmission of the disease. However, this risk is not very high, because following two to three days, the microbe can die out. Unlike the microbes contained in the sample bottles which multiply in such an environment. “Explains a source at the Ministry of Public Health. She points out that this waste cannot come from hospitals. “Waste from public hospitals does not turn into recycling products. They are immediately reduced to ashes in the incinerators. All hospitals have them. “, she notes. A source with the SMA adds that waste from hospitals does not go into public garbage bins.
But it’s not just public hospitals that produce medical waste. Waste management at the level of other health establishments, private clinics, private offices, and basic health centers leaves something to be desired. “We don’t have an incinerator. We burn the waste, as we please, ”says a source. Also, syringes are available over-the-counter in pharmacies, anyone can get them, so no one has control over where they end up.