Hospital strives for a greener future

“Teamwork makes for dreamwork, that is what I say.”

These were the proud words of Bertha Gxowa Hospital environmental health practitioner Zama Cele after the hospital received the Global Green and Healthy Hospitals (GGHH) Waste Green Health Challenge Award for their waste management efforts.

Zama spoke to the GCN following the recent GGHH Africa Conference in Durban and explained more about the award and what it means to the hospital to have won this award.

“Bertha Gxowa Hospital was the first government hospital to join the GGHH,” explained Zama.

“The GGHH focuses on hospitals reducing their carbon footprint and impact on the environment across seven countries.

“We joined in 2016, and out of the 10 goals the organisation had laid out for the participating hospitals, we chose four.

“The four goals we decided to focus on were food, pharmaceuticals, energy, and waste.

“Under each of these focus areas, we have projects which are helping to reduce our impact on the environment, while also helping reduce costs for the hospital.

“This award was awarded to us for our waste management projects.”

Among the hospital’s waste management projects is an insulin management project for diabetic patients who receive their insulin from the hospital for home use.

In this project, patients are given an official sharps container to dispose of their needles.

“We noticed that diabetic patients were given the medication, syringes, and needles to self-medicate, but not the proper container to safely dispose of the needles after they have injected themselves,” explained Zama.

Now each time a patient is issued with needles for medication, they are given an official sharps container that they are requested to bring back to the hospital at their next appointment.

“We will then make sure the needles are disposed of correctly and the patient will receive a new container for the new session of medication,” said Zama.

Another project the hospital has undertaken in its waste management goal is the disposal of expired or unused medicine.

In this project, community members are encouraged to bring their expired or unused medication to the hospital where it can be properly disposed of.

“Instead of flushing the unused or expired medicine down the toilet, where it will end up in our rivers, or sending it to landfills where people could get hold of it and use it incorrectly, rather bring it to the hospital where it can be disposed of properly,” said Zama.

In-hospital waste management has also been addressed by Zama and her team.

“We have a waste reduction project which is running within the hospital, which aims to remove infectious waste from wards and cubicles as quickly as possible,” said Zama.

“When you are a patient in the hospital and you are trying to rest and get better you don’t want to be smelling blood and such waste.

“So we decided to address this.”

Through this project, hospital staff and visitors are also educated continuously on what type of waste needs to go into what bin, as medical and municipal waste must be kept separate.

“With the education of both staff members and the public, we have been able to reduce our waste which has meant a reduction in costs,” said Zama.

Winning the award has motivated not just Zama, but her team to keep up their hard work.

“We are so grateful for the award,” said Zama.

“Teamwork is everything and this award shows we are heading in the right direction.

“This award has really motivated the team to do more because they see that their hard work doesn’t go unnoticed.”

Going forward, the hospital hopes to not only continue with their current projects, but to implement some new projects as well.

“We look forward to winning more awards,” said Zama with a laugh.

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