Cabinet approves purchase of new equipment to treat medical waste

KINGSTON — Cabinet has approved a US$899,668 contract to ECODAS Limited for the supply and installation of medical waste equipment at the Southeast Medical Waste Treatment Facility.

This disclosure was made by Minister with responsibility for Information, Telecommunications and Special Projects, Hon. Daryl Vaz during a recent post-Cabinet press briefing at Jamaica House.

He said the contract will allow for improvement of the storage, collection and treatment capacity of the facility.

The Minister informed that the Southeast Medical Waste Facility is the only facility in the island permitted by the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) to treat medical waste.

It currently has a treatment capacity of up to 604 tonnes per year, which is approximately 38 per cent of the 1,597 tonnes of medical waste generated in Jamaica annually by both public and private health care facilities.

Mr. Vaz pointed out that the new equipment will increase the treatment capacity of the facility by at least 100 per cent.

By CHRIS PATTERSON, JIS Reporter