Danger looming: Watch how misuse of Veronica Buckets is exposing many

In several parts of Accra where Veronica buckets have been placed at vantage points to observe handwashing amidst the Coronavirus outbreak, it has been noticed that individuals do not throw away the wastewater after washing their hands into these supporting bowls.

Ghanaweb.com chanced upon a NET2TV news report which captures how some Ghanaian institutions sit back and watch the buckets overflow with contaminated water, a situation that increases the risk of transmitting bacteria should anyone get into direct contact with it.

Surprisingly some hospitals are not exempted from this careless act.

Meanwhile, inventor of the Veronica bucket, Madam Veronica Bekoe in an earlier interview with ghanaweb.com admonished the practice of handwashing in a bowl, something which according to her, played a pivotal role in inventing the popular bucket which is of much significance in Ghana today.

“We normally have water problems. Some of the facilities did not have running water. And they were just using bowls to wash their hands… the bowl with the water sitting there being used even by one person is only clean the first time he or she washes their hands. If he/she does not throw that water away, they would rather be contaminating themselves. So, it just occurred to me that if we could fix a tap to any container to produce running water, that could help. I made a prototype with aluminum sheets, made it into a container and had a tap fixed to it. We used it to provide running water all over the country in the laboratories to demonstrate how to use running water to wash hands,” she stated.

She also expressed contentment about how its usage has become important, particularly in this season of Coronavirus.

“It makes me feel good… I introduced this thing early 1990’s, and it was quiet, few people were using it and nobody knew about it, but see where we are not; so, I thank God for it.”