With a sad look on his pale face, nine-year old Mido sat on a small bench on the balcony of his room in Al-Ma’moura District, east of Alexandria.  His eyes followed the neighbors’ children as they played in the nearby yard.

Mohammed Hassanein, Mido’s father, said his son’s normal life ended when Mido was five years old— when they moved near Al-Ma’moura Public Hospital, whose workers dumped medical waste not far from the building where Mido lives.

With a sad look on his pale face, nine-year old Mido sat on a small bench on the balcony of his room in Al-Ma’moura District, east of Alexandria.  His eyes followed the neighbors’ children as they played in the nearby yard.

Mohammed Hassanein, Mido’s father, said his son’s normal life ended when Mido was five years old— when they moved near Al-Ma’moura Public Hospital, whose workers dumped medical waste not far from the building where Mido lives.

The dumped waste was disposed by burning—the smoke, laden with various epidemics and viruses, caused Mido to develop an acute chest infection and an incurable inflammation of the airways, according to many doctors who treated him over the past years.

As a consequence, Mido has been largely paralyzed because of the disease that emaciated his tender body.

Seeking recourse of action

Hassanein has vainly submitted dozens of complaints about his son to Alexandria’s governor and is still waiting for a response.

He claims that the Ministry of Environment was the only official body that responded to his complaint.

“After verifying my son’s condition and the root cause for his disease, the environmental ministry ordered to close the hospital’s incinerator.”

The hospital’s administration ignored the order and continued to burn its medical waste in the open space adjacent to the hospital disregarding the ministry’s decision,” Hassanein said.

First official response  

“The body concerned with environmental affairs, has completed its assessment of the environmental impact caused by the medical waste burning sites, east and west of the governorate, especially at Al-Ameria and Al-Ma’moura,” said Huda Mustafa, Head of the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency in Alexandria.

Mustafa said the Environmental Protection Fund planned to build a number of incinerators for distribution to different hospitals nationwide.

“The hospitals that do not have special incinerators must contract with other hospitals equipped with safe incinerators,” said Mustafa.  “Hospitals that fail to comply or those found to have hazardous leaks will be immediately closed through an official procedure.” 

Another official response

Another health official, Mohammed Suleiman , undersecretary of the Ministry of Health in Alexandria, claimed he was unaware of Mido’s case and said the family needed to file an official complaint.

Commenting on the problem of medical waste incinerators in the governorate, Suleiman stressed that Alexandria governorate’s executive council has agreed to allocate 3000 square meters of land for building a hazardous medical waste incinerator complex, administered by the health directorate, as a quick solution to the problem of disposal of hazardous medical waste near residential buildings.

The allocation is due to the failure of the contracting company with the governorate to undertake this project. In addition, the health directorate is in the process of concluding an agreement with a new company for safe disposal of medical refuse considering the untoward risks caused to citizens’ health especially those living in the vicinity of incinerators.

Suleiman added that the choice of incinerators sites is attributed to the fact that many hospitals purchased land plots for building their hospitals without due consideration to the environmental safety measures, which require them to be distant from residential buildings that are affected by the smoke emitted from the burning waste.

Suleiman further explained that now things are different after issuing decisions to coordinate efforts with the Ministry of Environment for closure of all violating incinerators, east and west of Alexandria, especially those near residential areas.

New medical waste disposal incinerators compound is due to be set up with penalties imposed on hospitals that violate the decision.

Senior official opinion

General Tareq Mahdi, Governor of Alexandria said he ordered the allocation of  3000 square meters of land in Nasiriyah, west of the governorate, at the industrial wastes compound, for building a new incinerator compound, in addition to five vehicles medical waste transport.

Furthermore, he said three new incinerators would be delivered in the near future over and above the three already available incinerators. He stressed that the Ministry of Health allocated EGP 1,000,000 (US $140,000) for building the hazardous materials incinerators complex and strict measures would be taken against violating hospitals.