HOSPITAL WASTE MANAGEMENT

CLASS: BBA III-B

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INTRODUCTION

Hospital waste, also called medical waste, is a waste generated by health care activities including
a broad range of materials, from used needles and syringes to soiled dressings, body parts,
diagnostic samples, blood, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, medical devices and radioactive
materials.

There are different sources through which medical waste is generated which includes hospitals,
clinics, blood banks, animal research laboratories etc. Among all these sources, hospitals are one
of the main source of medical waste generation.

According to World Health Organization (WHO), among overall medical waste, 10% consist of
infectious waste, 85% is non-hazardous healthcare waste and 5% chemical and radioactive
waste. World Health Organization (WHO) has categorized the medical waste into further sub
categories that are as follows:

a) Sharp Waste
In hospitals, different items like blades, syringes, scalpels and pipettes are well. All of these
items are infectious because these instruments can cause harm like cuts and wounds and can
transfer contagious diseases.
b) Infectious Waste
Infectious waste is a kind of waste through which infectious disease can spread, if that waste
is not processed correctly through standard procedures. It consist of harmful viruses, bacteria,
parasites and fungi through which can cause transferable diseases among people.
c) Pathological Waste
The pathological waste is generated through surgery and it is consists of tissues of humans
and animals, different body fluids and other kind of waste. Pathological waste highly
infectious if the human or animal has same kind of infectious disease.
d) Pharmaceutical Waste
For the treatment purpose, different kind of drugs, vaccines and medicine are used in
hospitals. These products can be harmful for humans, if they misarrange. The proper disposal
of this waste is a heavy responsibility for healthcare industries.

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 e) Chemical Waste
In hospital, different kind of chemicals are being used. These chemicals are used in hospitals
and clinics for the experimental work. This waste can be hazardous for people if it is not
handled properly.
f) Radioactive Waste
This waste is generated by X-Ray units and should be highly protected in order to avoid any
harmful health hazard.

HARMFUL EFFECT OF HOSPITAL WASTE

The world population is rising day by day, the need of medical care and services for the people
also increases. And due to the increasing need of medical services, the quantity of waste
generated by healthcare facilities has also gone high overtime. Hospital waste can react
harmfully to the human because it contains some chemicals which react with each other in air or
water which may releases the harmful poisonous gases and explosions E.g.: chlorine, peroxides.
By burning these waste releases, the harmful gases by this our body parts get effected by doing
this it may develop the irritation in your skin. Eyes. Lungs etc. Hospital waste should be
managed properly to we can protect our environment, human and wild life’s, the harmful effect
of the hospital waste is not only harmful for the employee working in the hospital, but also to the
people lives surrounding that area. It may cause diseases like hepatitis A & B, AIDS
Typhoid etc. During heavy rainfall, leaked pesticides can drain into the ground water and
polluted the groundwater which damage our eco system also, exposure to hazardous medical
waste could lead to series of health challenges such as infections and life-threatening diseases
like hepatitis and HIV. The handling and disposal of medical waste methods requires a lot of
carefulness as inappropriate handling and disposal of hospital waste (HW) can cause even
greater danger and threat to the environment. Proper waste segregation is very important in order
to avoid exposure to hazardous waste as it possesses health associated risks to hospital workers,
general public, and the environment.

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HOSPITAL WASTE MANAGEMENT IN PAKISTAN

As per associate degree estimate, in Karachi, out of 8000 loads of refuse generated each
day, 0.5 %is health care waste, generated by four hundred hospitals, clinics and
laboratories. As per the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) study on hospital
waste, 20% of health care waste generated each day within the town is infectious waste.
In Islamic Republic of Pakistan disposal of health care waste isn't safe. It absolutely
was ascertained that health care waste was either drop at community waste sites
or oversubscribed on to the dealers of the junk. Scavenger boys and sweepers of health
care facilities sell these product to junk dealers. It was found that there's potential market
of health care waste in recycling business. Plastic ware trade is that the biggest customer of
used syringes, infusion and blood luggage. Any health care waste left by scavengers is
either taken for final disposal by municipal authorities in open trucks or burned during
a smouldering fireplace, polluting the surroundings. Its irony that Karachi Municipal
Corporation (KMC), that incorporates a major combustion plant, is unable to run it to
full capability for need of waste offer from hospitals.
The govt. should came upon centralized disposal points for hospital waste in major cities. In
Karachi, the KMC provides a disposal service that collects and incinerates waste from
hospitals for a fee. Despite this, most hospitals choose to dump their waste within the open.
This apply is associate degree immoral and extremely unsafe apply. Governmental and non-
governmental organizations ought to conjointly launch campaigns to
boost awareness concerning hazards of such waste among all the high risk teams.

GUIDLINES FOR MANAGING HOSPITAL WASTE

Hospital waste should be careful about cautious transfer and control before gathering for
treatment. OSHA has managed starting measures for disposing of controlled therapeutic waste
things. These measures are intended to ensure the laborers who create therapeutic waste and who
deal with the wastes of generation to disposal.

a) Segregation:

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Segregation meant to the fundamental partition of various classifications of waste created at
source and accordingly minimizing the risk including expense of dealing with and disposal.
Segregation is the most pivotal step in bio-medical waste administration. Successful segregation
alone can guarantee powerful bio-medical waste administration.

b) Microwave irradiation:

Microwave radiation is utilized to deal with wastewater slop and as a warmth source to treat
therapeutic waste. Microwave treatment units can be either on location establishments or
versatile treatment vehicles. The preparing for the most part incorporates front-end destroying of
the waste, both to expand the adequacy of the microwave treatment and to diminish the volume
of the end waste for disposal.

c) Incineration:

Incineration is a high-temperature dry oxidation process that minimizes natural and flammable
waste. This process is typically chosen to treat waste that can't be recycled, reused, or discarded
in a landfill site.

CONCLUSION
Conclusively it can be said that safe and environment friendly options should be opted in order to
make sure the protection of people who are directly involved in the gathering, storing,
transporting and disposing of waste. The correct measures should also be taken for the disposal
of medical waste so that people can be safe from any health hazard.

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