Residents surrounding Helen Joseph Hospital can sleep at ease as the Gauteng Health Department has denied allegations that medical waste was being burned on the premises.
“Helen Joseph Hospital and all other public health facilities in Gauteng do not burn medical waste,” said Gauteng Health head of communications Prince Hamnca.
Mr Jacobs, who resides a few hundred metres from the hospital, noticed that there was something burning at the hospital recently.
“It smelt terrible and I could see the smoke in the air and I suspected it could be medical waste being burned,” he said.
Connie Mncube, who also stays at a nearby commune, witnessed this.
“It was smelling for about two days; I can never put anything past Helen Joseph; I won’t be shocked if we find it is medical waste burning right there, because what else can smell so bad,” she said.
According to Hamnca, the hospital medical waste is collected from wards, sealed in medical boxes, which are labelled, and these are kept in a locked storage at the back of the hospital.
The service provider then collects the waste to the location where it is disposed off.
“The smoke residents saw came from diesel boilers.
The Department of Infrastructure was informed and they sent technicians who have since fixed the challenge,” he said.
The Democratic Alliance Shadow Health Minister Jack Bloom said as far as he is concerned, Helen Joseph Hospital contracts companies to collect and dispose of medical waste.
“No hospital is allowed to burn anything on hospital property,” said Bloom.
