Opening Ceremony Medical Waste Disposal Equipment Project

The Joint Service Council for Solid Waste Management in Khan Yunis, Rafah and Middle Area Governorates organized an opening ceremony For Providing Medical Waste Disposal Equipment for The Joint Service Council at the Khan Younis waste transfer station, south of the city.

The ceremony was attended by the governor of Khan Younis Dr. Ahmed Al-Shaibi, Chairman and Mayor of Khan Younis Alaeddin Al-Battah, Director of Qatar Charity Mohammed Abu Haloub, First Secretary to the Japanese Embassy in Palestine, Masahiro Matsui, JICA representatives, representatives of the Ministry of Health, representatives of the UNRWA Health Program, representatives of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) France, as well as a number of key ministries Concerned and municipalities members of the Council.

Eng. Al-Batta praised the role of Qatar Charity in providing an autoclave project in 2016 to treat hospital waste, as well as Japanese support to improve the quality of work through the maintenance of medical waste treatment unit in Khan Younis. 

Eng. Al-Batta explained the existing problems for disposing medical waste inside containers due to its danger to human and surrounding environment, praising the role of JICA in establishing the first unit for treating hazardous and infectious medical waste using autoclave in the sector. 

Eng. Al-Batta Referred to the JSC-KRM roles in provides collection, treatment and proper disposal of 25% of the total output of infectious and hazardous waste in the Gaza Strip. And he said that the Japanese government will endeavor to provide decent funding through UNDP to develop the current project during the beginning of the new year, thanking the Ministry of Local Government for their continuous support in developing the council's services by supervising important strategic projects.

For his part, Mr. Matsui expressed his sincere gratitude to the management of the Council, the Ministry of Health, UNRWA and JICA for their efforts in the success of the project, which aims to rehabilitate the medical waste treatment system and to increase the quality and quantity of treated waste daily and reduce tariffs, through the development of cutting and shredding equipment in the autoclave device Rehabilitation of the ventilation system in the station facilities, indicating that two primary sterilizers were installed in Shifa Hospital and Khan Younis clinic, and providing 1035 containers and 40 vehicles to serve the treatment plant through a grant from the Government of Japan amounting to $ 83000 . Almost, through grant assistance projects V Civil and Human Security (GGP).

Dr. Magdi Dheir, Director of Preventive Medicine and Environmental Health at the Ministry of Health, spoke on the role of the ministry in the project of medical waste management through the supervision of the implementation of the activities of the project in (27) health center of the ministry in addition to the dialysis departments and the central laboratory in Shifa Medical Complex, in order to contribute to Maintain the safety of employees and citizens alike from the risk of contamination with acute and hazardous medical waste.

Eng. Mohammed Abu Haloub announced the provision of a grant of $ 300,000 through Qatar Charity to provide a solar energy system and supply a power line to operate the unit at a lower cost to ensure the sustainability of the work, praising the Japanese role in supporting this project, as well as implementing partners Joint Services Council, Ministry of Health, UNRWA and Ministry of Local Government.

The ceremony concluded with a field tour of the treatment unit and briefed the participants on the details of the work in the unit.

And worth mention that it is the first treatment unit in the Gaza Strip to treat approximately 7 tons of hazardous waste every month, which the council collect from 27 health center subordinate to the Ministry of Health, 13 clinic subordinate to UNRWA, 5 clinic subordinate to MSF France, and dialysis and Central Laboratory Departments in Shifa Medical Complex.