Hechi medical waste disposal workers fight virus on front line

Wei Wenzhan, a driver at the transport team of the Hechi Medical Waste Disposal Center, loads the medical waste generated by novel coronavirus pneumonia patients. [Photo/Hechi Daily]

Twenty-nine workers at the Hechi Medical Waste Disposal Center have been recently fighting on the front line against the novel coronavirus pneumonia, dealing with the medical waste produced by confirmed or suspected patients.

About six metric tons of medical waste is produced every day in the city since the pneumonia outbreak, including 0.2 tons by confirmed or suspected novel coronavirus pneumonia patients.

According to the city's emergency disposal scheme for the novel coronavirus, clinical waste generated by confirmed or suspected patients must be collected and disposed of on the same day of production.

Wei Wenzhan, a driver at the center's transport team, has been working for over 10 days without a good night's sleep since the first day of the lunar year.

Every day, he drives a clinical waste transfer truck to collect medical waste in counties and districts, taking it back to the medical waste center for safe treatment.

"The medical waste is small in weight, but large in size, and also needs tight and compact packing. So it takes more time than usual to collect waste around the city," said Wei. "But I can't stop now and should go faster to make others feel more relieved on the front lines."

Wei noted that each yellow box of clinical waste is loaded by hand, up to about 800 boxes a day.

Huang Rongquan and Luo Jibin at the center has taken the initiative to undertake the safe disposal of the novel coronavirus pneumonia-related medical waste, and started their work on the second day of the first lunar month.

To reduce the risks of infection, they schedule the waste disposal time at 11:00 pm. "No one but us is allowed anywhere near here," said Huang.

"We also avoid eating or going to the toilet when working," noted Huang, adding that it's time-consuming to change new protection suits and get disinfected.

From Jan 20 to Feb 10, the accumulated disposal volume of medical waste in the city reached 110.17 tons, of which 1.81 tons were generated by novel coronavirus pneumonia patients.