Katutura hospital smothers Windhoek

SMOKE from the incinerator used by the Katutura Intermediate Hospital causes a layer of toxic fog that hovers over the surrounding areas every day.

The fog is most visible in the morning.

A City of Windhoek engineer, Eliphas Kahorere, however, said that the fog that is most visible in the morning would be a thing of the past once the new state-of-the-art incinerator goes into full operation.

Kahorere also said the City of Windhoek bought the new incinerator that is situated in the Northern Industrial area for N$70 million. According to Kahorere, although the incinerator was not open to public use yet, they had started testing it and it has proven to be environmentally safe.

“For now, we have waste from the state hospital incinerator we are burning for this testing phase, and we are happy with the results,” he said.

He added that after a feasibility study done by the environment ministry, they were confident that the incinerator would not pollute the environment.

“Many toxic gases are produced during incineration, however, with this state-of-the-art incinerator, these gases will be neutralised and the toxic waste would then be in the form of ash, which we will then dump at Kupferberg dumpsite,” Kahorere said.

Once the incinerator is up and running, Kahorere said, it will also cater for private hospitals, laboratories and pharmacies.

He said the facility has an autoclave and a fuel pump.

The staff members, Kahorere further said, underwent intensive training by experts from South Africa.

For now, however, the Katutura Intermediate Hospital incinerator will be spewing toxic gases every morning.

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