Smelly affair …Hospital incinerator drives neighbour mad, complaining of bad smells
Written by Millennium on January 22, 2019
NOEL IYOMBWA writes
@SunZambian
AN incinerator in Lusaka’s Chipata compound has caused conflict between hospital administrators and the nearest neighbour who has complained of foul smells and smoke affecting his family.
Mr Kennedy Makukula has lived with the smell for five years and he has had enough. He wants the hospital to move the incinerator or buy his house.
For Mr Makukula and his family, billowing smoke from the incinerator signals closing of windows and if there is any food left uncovered, it is quickly moved and stored properly.
He describes the smell as choking and he is not sure what the hospital is burning each time smoke starts coming out, but suspects it may include human parts and medicines and other related supplies.
He has written complaints to the Zambia Environmental Management Agency (ZEMA) and the Ministry of Health through the Lusaka District Health Office.
Last year, he was invited to a stakeholders’ meeting at the hospital to discuss the issue of emissions from the incinerator where it was allegedly agreed that he would be compensated.
This however, has not happened and Mr Makukula is losing patience because his health and that of his family, is at risk.
An incinerator and storage room at Chipata clinic were built three meters away from his house.
He said his house was built in the 1970s before the clinic which was built in the 1980s and after that an incinerator was added later in 2014 just few meters away from his house.
Mr Makukula disclosed that the ministry of Health agreed to buy the land so that he shifts.
He claims that the smells are killing his family and demanded that the hospital stops using the incinerator until the issue is solved.
He said he followed the right procedure by writing a complaint to the ministry of Health and the Zambia Environmental management agency (ZEMA) but nothing tangle able has come out.
“We are dying slowly with my family due to this health hazard and air pollution from the incinerator which is three meters away from the house as well as the storage room where they keep placentas just after the hospital mortuary. The smoke, smell and flies that come from the incinerator are bad and we don’t breathe well,” he complained. Ministry of Health spokesperson contacted promised to follow up the matter and get back to the Sun.