Bahrain : Special Envoy for Climate Affairs and Chief Executive of the Supreme Council for Environment (SCE), Dr. Mohammed bin Mubarak bin Daina, said that the health sector in the kingdom is growing steadily, noting that the number of health institutions has increased by 18% between 2017 and 2020.
Dr. Bin Daina made the statement marking the beginning of the implementation of Edict 3 of 2020 regarding the management of the hazardous waste of the health care sector, which came into effect on September 25.
The Special Envoy for Climate Affairs said that the edict had been prepared in collaboration with the National Health Regulatory Authority (NHRA), the Health Ministry and the Ministry of Works, Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning, and in coordination with the World Health Organisation (WHO), stressing the SCE’s keenness to ensure that the new edict copes with the growth of the health sector and takes the visions of the experts into account, commensurate with WHO guidelines.
Under the Edict 3/2020, health facilities shall name an employee to be in charge of waste management and form a work team to ensure achieving the highest levels of waste management.
The edict also specified the responsibilities of each work team member, set the standards for storing hazardous waste within facilities and determined how long it should stay in the storage site before it is transferred to the treatment unit.
Dr. Bin Daina called on those in charge of health facilities to implement all the provisions of the new edict, including making efforts to reduce the rate of generation of hazardous and other waste, and creating opportunities to invest in recycling the recyclable materials to contribute to reducing the amount of waste disposed at the Askar landfill for municipal waste, noting that each health facility produces between 15 and 20% of hazardous waste that is dealt with by licensed treatment companies, while 80 to 85% is non-hazardous waste, a large proportion of which can be recycled.
He indicated that the SCE is coordinating with the NHRA and the Works Ministry to ensure the health facilities’ cooperation, expressing confidence in the health sector’s affiliates’ keenness to bear their responsibility in achieving the forecast results.
