Handling of Syringe Sharps in A Non-Incineration Health Care Waste Disposal

An attempt has been made by the R&D team of the University of Dar es Salaam todesign and manufacture two needle cutter prototypes, a manually operated and anautomatic needle cutter to be used in rural and urban areas, respectively. This is part ofthe UNDP and WHO efforts aimed at promoting the non-burn medical waste disposaltechnologies in developing countries such as Argentina, India, Latvia, Lebanon,Philippines, Senegal, Tanzania and Vietnam. The project also involves designing andmanufacturing of the autoclaves for sterilizing of needle cutters and other infectiousmedical waste. The use of needle cutters in hospitals is aimed at cutting the needles offfrom syringes hence eliminating the possibility of being re-used as may be the case ifthey are just buried in landfills. The needles and plastic barrels of the syringes are thensterilized at 121 o C in an autoclave before disposing them in land-fills or recycling them.It should be noted that unlike manual needle cutters, automatic needle cutters do not adda step in administering injection and hence they are likely to be accepted by nurses andhealth care authorities. Two types of automatic cutter prototypes were developed byUDSM R&D Team; one using pneumatic mechanisms and the other one using a 12V-DC motor to cut the syringe needles and to push the plastic barrel into the wastecontainer. Of the two, the 12V-DC motor operated mechanism was found to beaffordable and suitable for use in rural areas also since it can easily use solar power.The above prototypes have already been manufactured and tested and found to beworking properly. Views of various stakeholders were used to improve and perfect thedesigns. The costs of these prototypes are estimated to be USD 50 and 150 for manuallyoperated needle cutter and 12V-DC operated needle cutter, respectively. Thesetechnologies, except the automatic needle cutters, have already been disseminated tolocal producers so as to be able to manufacture the same in mass production and atmuch more affordable costs. Training on the use of non-burn technologies includingmanagement of medical waste is essential for successful implementation of thesetechnologies. There is a need also to sensitize the Government, Municipal Authoritiesand Healthcare Authorities including hospitals on non-burn disposal of medical wastefor the project to be successful

Design and Manufacture Of A Waste Compactor Prototype: A Step towards Implementing A Non-Burn Health Care Waste Disposal in Developing Countries

Non-burn technology is the only safe way of handling and disposing infectious healthcare waste. It involves steam treatment of infectious waste at temperatures higher than 121 o C for a minimum of 30 minutes before disposing them just like other municipal waste. Infectious healthcare waste is normally only about 10 -25% of all healthcare waste. In this paper, design, manufacturing and testing of a waste compactor for reducing waste volume to facilitate its handling is discussed. Preliminary tests show that the waste volume can be reduced to less than 10% of its original volume using the developed compactor. Waste compactors can serve urban hospitals where dumping space is a problem and the waste has to be transported. The compactor, developed by the University of Dar es Salaam team under the UNDP support, is capable of handling up to 25 kg of medical waste at a time and it is hydraulically operated. Furthermore, except for the hydraulic units and other electrical gadgets which can be bought as off-shelf parts, the designed waste compactor can be manufactured locally. The estimated total production cost was below USD 3,000. Part of UNDP requirements for this support was that the compactor design should be adopted by seven countries namely; Argentina, India, Latvia, Lebanon, Philippines, Senegal, Tanzania and Vietnam. These countries were nominated by UNDP to demonstrate the best techniques and practices of non-burn technologies in the developing countries