The Kakamega county is putting up a modern incinerator at the county referral hospital.
The Sh12 million facility will handle medical waste material from all hospitals in the Western region and its environs.
Most health facilities in the region have faced challenges in handling medical waste which they destroyed by open fire causing air pollution.
“With support from the Belgian government we have invested in the project that will be eco-friendly because chemical incineration will cease in two months’ time,” he said.
Oparanya inspected the project on Tuesday accompanied by his deputy Philip Kutima, health services executive Rachael Okumu, medical superintendent Victor Zimbulu and hospital administrator Titus Mumia, among other officials.
The modern equipment will not destroy waste by burning hence polluting the environment, but will instead shred the material using microfilters, he said.
The project is part of the Sh6 billion county teaching and referral hospital whose first phase is to be commissioned before the end of the year.
He said the facility will serve both public and private health centres.
The governor also inspected the progress construction of the Sh80 million Kakamega funeral parlour.
The new facility will have a unit for the medico-legal cases, general mortuary services, a chapel, a restaurant, an ablution block and an ample parking bay.
Other facilities include accommodation for the morticians, postmortem services, admission and viewing facilities and cold storage fridges.
Oparanya said that the two projects will be a source of revenue for the county.
The Kakamega county referral hospital mortuary has been under renovations and residents have been forced to preserve bodies of their loved ones in private mortuaries around the county.
(edited by O. Owino)
