The Health Care Waste Forum, currently operating under the auspices of the Institute of Waste Management of Southern Africa (IWMSA), has joined forces with the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism (DEAT) and the Department of Health (DOH) to put a final stop on the illegal dumping of infectious waste in South Africa. A two day conference and expo will be hosted in Kempton Park, from 18-19 May 2009 to work on a strategy to curb the looming crisis.

“The illegal dumping and stock-piling of health care risk waste remains the order of the day throughout the country and something needs to be done urgently to eradicate the mismanagement of medical waste policies and standards in Southern Africa” says Magner, Chairperson to the Health Care waste Forum Southern Africa.

The conference, entitled ‘Seeking solutions for the challenges of the future’, will draw attention to a variety of local and international business opportunities and seek partnerships with a large number of organisations that are directly and indirectly associated with medical waste generation and treatment. Specific emphasis will be placed on the implementation of standards that are legitimate and sustainable especially pertaining to tenders.

Eighteen speakers from various medical associations, hospitals, treatment plants and government departments will address the delegates. Currently, policies for medical waste are individually driven by the nine provincial governments causing a substantial overload of regulation for service providers that need to cross provincial borders when transporting and treating waste. “This conference will be seen as the final frontier for dealing with all the underlying challenges and differences of opinion that are currently undermining good governance practices. We look forward to putting a national health care waste strategy together at the end of the conference,” says Janet Magner, Chairperson to the Health Care Waste Forum Southern Africa.

Some of the speakers include international masterminds, Edward Krisiunas, a USA expert operating within the international medical waste arena as well as Terry Grimmond, a medical microbiologist from the Daniels Corporation located in Australia. Local senior government officials representing the directorate authorisation and waste disposal management and the directorate for waste and policy management as well as experts from the legal fraternity and environmental management specialists will lead this critical and much needed discussion forum.

This conference will also feature a small business hub with its own exhibition floor that caters for waste disposal companies, treatment plants and solution providers to showcase their products and services to the health care market. The exhibition will be open to the public on 19 May and is expected to attract representatives from clinics, laboratories, pharmaceutical companies and hospitals.

With the Forum’s presence and membership base growing significantly, change is for certain. This very active forum is currently succeeding in positioning itself as the ultimate voice for eradicating the mismanagement of medical waste in South Africa and it is believed to be one of the most dynamic attempts yet in putting a halt on poor waste management practices. For more information please contact the forum project coordinator at snymana@tiscali.co.za or visit: www.hcwforum.org.