Clinical Waste Management Scenario of Private Health Care Establishment in Rajshahi City

Volume 3 - Issue 3

Md Razibur Rahman, Abdul Hamid and Md Shariful Islam*

Received: February 06, 2019;   Published: March 13, 2019

DOI: 10.32474/TCEIA.2018.03.000161

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Abstract

The increasing number of clinics and hospitals in Bangladesh has been resulting in the increased amount of waste generation. Clinical waste contains toxic chemicals and hazardous materials from several diagnosis and treatment processes. The improper disposal of clinical waste in the country poses a high health risk to humans as well as the environment.

The study of clinical waste management systems was performed to understand the various handling and disposal procedures in different clinics and diagnostics center in Rajshahi city, the knowledge and awareness of individuals involved in medical waste generation, handling and disposal, and the potential impacts of the waste stream on both human health and the natural environment. The purpose of the study is to provide direction for further study. Data were collected by field investigation and interview in the selected clinics and diagnostics center. It was found that a variety of methods were used by the medical facilities to dispose their wastes including burning, burial, entombing, selling, dumping, and removal by municipal bins. The waste disposal practice was found to be quite unsafe, and both clinical and non-clinical wastes were found to be thrown together. There was insufficient awareness of the magnitude of the medical wastes issue by concerned individuals at different levels from director or divisional head to tokai (waste pickers). This study aims at bringing safety, health and environment together as a basis for prioritizing national programmed, through collection of data on types, quantities, sources handling procedures and basic understanding by those in charge. In addition, it is also aimed at proposing ways of reducing levels of contact with hazardous health-care waste.

The improvement of waste management in clinics and hospitals is essential to minimize the spread of infectious diseases. The study was conducted at different 19 clinics and diagnostic centers at Rajshahi city in Bangladesh to quantify amount of clinical waste generated from the medical services; determine physical composition of; find out the correlation of waste quantity with relevant factors; identify problems and develop future guideline regarding waste management.

Keywords: Hazardous materials; Medical wastes; Health risk; Infectious diseases

Abstract| Introduction| Objectives| Clinical Waste Types and Sources| Sources and Types of Clinical Wastes| Clinical Waste in Environment| Public Health Risk| Treatment Method for Clinical Wastes| Methodology| Sources and Quantification of Clinical Waste| Results| Analysis of Clinical Waste Management in Selected Hospitals| Discussion| Conclusion| References|