News - Mar 29, 2024 Timor-Leste Progresses Baucau Hospital Improvements

The PacWastePlus programme, in collaboration with the National Directorate for the Environment and the Ministry of Health (MoH) in Timor Leste, is improving long-term healthcare waste management through the construction of specialised facilities and the development of sustainable waste management practices in hospitals.

Baucau Hospital has recently been the focus of works, with the construction of three disposal facilities which are a pit for disposal of legacy partially burned medical waste located on hospital grounds, a specialised disposal pit to accept sharps waste, i.e., scalpels, needles, vials, etc., and an anatomical pit for disposal of biological waste.

Before the construction of this facility, waste was either burned in open fields adjacent to the hospital wards or collected by local waste contractors for disposal.

During a handing over ceremony of the improved healthcare waste disposal facilities, held in late December 2023, the Vice Minister of Health, Hon. Jose dos Reis Magno expressed gratitude to the European Union and SPREP for the upgrade works carried out to improve medical waste facilities in Hospital.

“We appreciate the continued efforts of SPREP which will support repairs to the hospital Incinerators to burn the medical hazardous waste and proper disposal facilities for managing medical waste to help reduce the health issues and request for to continue support the same facilities of the Medical Waste into other Referral Hospitals,” said Hon. Jose dos Reis Magno during the event.

The PacWastePlus programme will continue to provide technical support to Timor-Leste to enhance the management of healthcare waste in hospitals and referral healthcare centres.