A clinical waste incinerator built by a local farmer may not be totally efficient and pollution free but it’s churning through waste that was otherwise dangerous and time consuming to dispose of.

The incinerator can handle up to 2 cu m of waste per day with the advantage of reducing labour costs. While many domestic medical centres spend billions of dong on imported technology, it is reported that the incinerator takes an ‘economical’ 60 million Vietnamese Dong (VND) (around £1,800) to build ‘s machine. That is economical is crucially important, far more some than its sophistication and performance but if you don’t have the money, and funds for fuel and staff, then wastes will still be dumped without treatment.

The inspiration for the development of this incinerator is itself interesting. “”One day, I heard the cleaner screaming loudly. It turned out that even though she was wearing thick rubber boots, a used injection needle still managed to thrust into her foot. She angrily left for home, swearing that she would never do this job again,” Quan recalled. What better reason to develop a means for safe(r) disposal of clinical wastes?

“The main part of the stove is its waste chamber, designed to contain fireproof powder or heatproof fibreglass to prevent the outer shell from heating up, causing danger to users.

“Quan’s incinerator can burn up all kinds of medical waste, from used cotton, bandages, injection needles to medicine bottles, leaving little ash or smoke, thanks to its high chimney and air filter. Will it beat the UN-sponsored version and other designs that pop up now and again? All are commendable, and though limited in scope when measured against our own expectations for clinical waste incinerator we must not scoff. These are valuable equipment items that do a great job. More important still, is the destruction of waste items that might otherwise be scavenged for re-use with serious public health implications.