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Study of Clinical Waste Management at Rajshahi Medical College Hospital (RMCH) in Bangladesh

Received: 2 April 2017     Accepted: 12 April 2017     Published: 5 May 2017
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Abstract

The management of clinical waste is of great importance due to its infectious and hazardous nature that can cause risks on environment and public health. The study is conducted to evaluate clinical waste management practices and to determine the amount of waste generated at Rajshahi Medical College Hospital (RMCH) in Bangladesh. A survey is driven to collect information about the practices related to waste segregation, collection procedures, type of temporary storage containers, on-site transport and primary dumping point, treatment of wastes, off-site transport, and final disposal options. This study indicates that the quantity of medical waste generated by RMCH is 156 kg/day. Almost half of the waste was similar to domestic waste and 20% of the waste is considered to be hazardous waste. The survey result shows that segregation of all wastes is not conducted according to consistent rules and standards where some quantity of medical waste is disposed of with domestic wastes. The most frequently used treatment method for solid medical waste is incineration which is not done regularly at RMCH and the position of the incinerator is not acceptable. Clinical 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. For further study, it is needed to collect more information on impacts, disposal and management to draw a clear conclusion. Need to collect information and examples from developed country or the country which has sound medical waste management system.

Published in International Journal of Environmental Protection and Policy (Volume 5, Issue 2)
DOI 10.11648/j.ijepp.20170502.12
Page(s) 26-31
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2017. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Solid Waste Management, Segregation, Incineration, Rajshahi Medical College Hospital (RMCH), Hazardous Waste, Domestic Waste, Clinical Waste

References
[1] J I Blenkharn (2005). Clinical wastes in the community: Local authority management of clinical wastes from domestic premises, 8 August 2005, pp. 526–531.
[2] J F Morgan, J Appl Bacteriol (1995): Assessment of microwave-based clinical waste decontamination unit. 7 Dec 1995, pp. 600-608.
[3] Akter, 1997. Medical Waste Disposal at BRAC Health Centre: Journal on Clinical Waste Management in Dhaka city, 28 November 1997, Page: 1227-1235.
[4] World Health Organisation (WHO) 1999: Safe Management of Waste from Healthcare Activities, World Health Organisation.
[5] The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), 2004 “Clean Dhaka Master Plan,” 5 March 2004, pp. 56-75.
[6] The Local Initiative Facility for the Urban Environment (LIFE), 2004. “In-house Hospital waste management,” 21 July 2004, pp. 25-35.
[7] Patil and Pokhrel (2004). Biomedical solid waste management in India: Journal of Waste Management, 29 March 2004, pp. 1163-1166.
[8] Mato and Kaseva GR (1999): A study on problems of management of medical solid waste in Dar es Salaam and their remedial measures. Resource, Conservation and Recycling, 9 July 1999, pp. 01-16.
[9] L F Diaz, G M Savage, L L Eggerth, 2005: Alternatives for the treatment and disposal of healthcare wastes in developing countries. Waste Management, 2 February 2005, pp. 626–637.
[10] A Pruss E Giroult, P Rushbrook: Safe management of wastes from health-care Activities (1999), Geneva, World Health Organization; pp. 1–230.
[11] J I Blenkharn (2005): Clinical wastes in the community: Local authority management of clinical wastes from domestic premises, 8 August 2005, pp. 526–531.
[12] M Sawalem, E Selic, and J D Herbell. (2009): Hospital waste management in Libya: A case study. Waste Management, 29 March 2009, pp. 1370–1375.
[13] A Coker, A Sangodoyin, M Sridhar, C Booth and P Olomolaiye 2009: Medical waste management in Ibadan, Nigeria: obstacles and prospects. Journal of Waste Management, 29 October 2009, pp. 804-811.
[14] Sekaran U 2009: Research methods for business (2nd Ed). New York: Willey.
[15] M Gordon 1998: Research design: A dictionary of Sociology, http://wwwencyclopedid.com accessed 5 March 2013.
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  • APA Style

    Md. Shamim Al Razib, Nazmul Hasan, Supriya Mondal. (2017). Study of Clinical Waste Management at Rajshahi Medical College Hospital (RMCH) in Bangladesh. International Journal of Environmental Protection and Policy, 5(2), 26-31. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijepp.20170502.12

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    ACS Style

    Md. Shamim Al Razib; Nazmul Hasan; Supriya Mondal. Study of Clinical Waste Management at Rajshahi Medical College Hospital (RMCH) in Bangladesh. Int. J. Environ. Prot. Policy 2017, 5(2), 26-31. doi: 10.11648/j.ijepp.20170502.12

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    AMA Style

    Md. Shamim Al Razib, Nazmul Hasan, Supriya Mondal. Study of Clinical Waste Management at Rajshahi Medical College Hospital (RMCH) in Bangladesh. Int J Environ Prot Policy. 2017;5(2):26-31. doi: 10.11648/j.ijepp.20170502.12

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ijepp.20170502.12,
      author = {Md. Shamim Al Razib and Nazmul Hasan and Supriya Mondal},
      title = {Study of Clinical Waste Management at Rajshahi Medical College Hospital (RMCH) in Bangladesh},
      journal = {International Journal of Environmental Protection and Policy},
      volume = {5},
      number = {2},
      pages = {26-31},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ijepp.20170502.12},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijepp.20170502.12},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijepp.20170502.12},
      abstract = {The management of clinical waste is of great importance due to its infectious and hazardous nature that can cause risks on environment and public health. The study is conducted to evaluate clinical waste management practices and to determine the amount of waste generated at Rajshahi Medical College Hospital (RMCH) in Bangladesh. A survey is driven to collect information about the practices related to waste segregation, collection procedures, type of temporary storage containers, on-site transport and primary dumping point, treatment of wastes, off-site transport, and final disposal options. This study indicates that the quantity of medical waste generated by RMCH is 156 kg/day. Almost half of the waste was similar to domestic waste and 20% of the waste is considered to be hazardous waste. The survey result shows that segregation of all wastes is not conducted according to consistent rules and standards where some quantity of medical waste is disposed of with domestic wastes. The most frequently used treatment method for solid medical waste is incineration which is not done regularly at RMCH and the position of the incinerator is not acceptable. Clinical 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. For further study, it is needed to collect more information on impacts, disposal and management to draw a clear conclusion. Need to collect information and examples from developed country or the country which has sound medical waste management system.},
     year = {2017}
    }
    

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    T1  - Study of Clinical Waste Management at Rajshahi Medical College Hospital (RMCH) in Bangladesh
    AU  - Md. Shamim Al Razib
    AU  - Nazmul Hasan
    AU  - Supriya Mondal
    Y1  - 2017/05/05
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    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijepp.20170502.12
    DO  - 10.11648/j.ijepp.20170502.12
    T2  - International Journal of Environmental Protection and Policy
    JF  - International Journal of Environmental Protection and Policy
    JO  - International Journal of Environmental Protection and Policy
    SP  - 26
    EP  - 31
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2330-7536
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijepp.20170502.12
    AB  - The management of clinical waste is of great importance due to its infectious and hazardous nature that can cause risks on environment and public health. The study is conducted to evaluate clinical waste management practices and to determine the amount of waste generated at Rajshahi Medical College Hospital (RMCH) in Bangladesh. A survey is driven to collect information about the practices related to waste segregation, collection procedures, type of temporary storage containers, on-site transport and primary dumping point, treatment of wastes, off-site transport, and final disposal options. This study indicates that the quantity of medical waste generated by RMCH is 156 kg/day. Almost half of the waste was similar to domestic waste and 20% of the waste is considered to be hazardous waste. The survey result shows that segregation of all wastes is not conducted according to consistent rules and standards where some quantity of medical waste is disposed of with domestic wastes. The most frequently used treatment method for solid medical waste is incineration which is not done regularly at RMCH and the position of the incinerator is not acceptable. Clinical 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. For further study, it is needed to collect more information on impacts, disposal and management to draw a clear conclusion. Need to collect information and examples from developed country or the country which has sound medical waste management system.
    VL  - 5
    IS  - 2
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • Department of Civil Engineering, Rajshahi University of Engineering & Technology, Rajshahi, Bangladesh

  • Department of Civil Engineering, Rajshahi University of Engineering & Technology, Rajshahi, Bangladesh

  • Department of Civil Engineering, Rajshahi University of Engineering & Technology, Rajshahi, Bangladesh

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