Abstract

Biomedical waste management

Author(s): Nageswara Rao

Hospital wastes pose a significant impact on health and environment. From this study it can be said that there is an urgent need for raising awareness and education on medical waste issues. Proper waste management strategy is needed to ensure health and environmental safety. For further study, it is needed to collect more information on impacts, disposal andmanagement to drawa clear conclusion.Need to collect information and examples fromdeveloped country or the country,which has sound medical waste management system. Find alternatives and appropriate technologies for developing countries.Need extensive study on thismedicalwaste and itsmanagement aspects aswell.All over theworld, there is an exodus of people from villages to cities, partly for education and employment and partly because agriculture has become less and less profitable. It is estimated that 65% of the worldÂ’s population will live in cities by 2030. The infrastructure required for this lop-sided growth of the cities is resulting inmountains of garbage collecting in the unplanned extensions in larger cities, because of poor conservancyservices and lack of civic amenities. It is estimated that the domestic garbage produced per day in Mumbai is of size of an eight stored building complex. The quality of air in the surroundings of the cities is so poor that it is estimated about two million children under five die each year fromrespiratory infections Falling in linewith the general situation,we find certain public places like hospitals, vegetable, fish and other market places, Railway stations, Bus stands, Parks and Cinema halls aremaintained unhygienicallycontributing to the spread of infectious diseases. It is wonder how the elite like doctors and higher officials who work in such public places and spendmajor part of their day time in these places are callous to the environment. Particularly, hospitals generate an enormous amount of dangerous waste. The amount of solid waste generated by hospitals has been increasing rapidly in developing countries like India and its management can no longer be ignored. Increasing concern for community health standards and pollution control requirements demand that the hugemass of infectious waste be rendered as harmless as possible before it is disposed.Against this background, an attempt is made in this paper to discuss the problem of disposal of wastes in Indian hospitals and various legislations relating to environmental protection in general andBio-medical waste (Management and Handling) rules,1998 (amended in 2000) based on the environmental (protection)Act, 1986 in particular. This Paper also suggests a few measures for the effectivemanagement of waste disposal.