biomedical waste management in hospital

Medical care is important for our life and health, but the waste generated by medical activities represents a real problem of living nature and the human world. Improper management of waste generated in health care facilities has a direct health impact on the community, health care workers, and the environment. Every day, relatively infectious and hazardous wastes are generated in healthcare hospitals and facilities around the world. Indiscriminate disposal of hospital waste and exposure to such waste poses a serious threat to the environment and human health that requires specific treatment and management before final disposal.

Defination

According to the Biomedical Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 1998 of India, "any waste generated during the diagnosis, treatment or vaccination of humans or animals or related to research activities or in biological production or testing."

Sources of BMW

The hospital is the main source of biomedical waste production and its quantity and type is increasing every year. These biomedical wastes, in addition to the risk to patients and personnel, are also a threat to public health and the environment.

• Blood banks/mortuaries/autopsy centers.
• Production units.
• Biotechnology institutions.
• Medical colleges and research centers/ paramedic services.
• Govt. hospitals/private hospitals/nursing homes/ dispensaries.
• Veterinary colleges and animal research centers.
• Primary health centers.

Objectives

• Infection control
• Prevention from the hazards caused by harmful and hazardous waste.
• Prevention of hazards arising during waste handling at any stage.
• Preventing climate and land pollution due to lack of proper management of the waste.
• Preventing the use of the remaining medicines and paraphernalia.

Classification of Bio-Medical Waste

The World Health Organization (WHO) has classified medical waste into eight categories:

• General waste
• Pathological
• Radioactive
• Chemical
• Infectious to potentially infectious waste
• Sharps
• Pharmaceuticals
• Pressurized containers

Process of Biomedical waste management

BMW is done under a process that has a fixed protocol.

Waste collection and Segregation

This process is done at the place where the waste originates, such as collecting the waste generated in the hospital or laboratory at the same place. This biomedical waste is of two types, which is divided into Hazardous and Non Hazardous. It is separated according to nature. For this, there are different colored containers or polythene in the hospital, whose coding is different, according to which garbage is put in them.

Black color

Non infectious waste such as paper, tissue paper, kitchen waste, medicine covers etc. fall into this category.

Yellow color

In this, infected waste is kept like- Human organ, Tissue, body parts, dressing waste, pus etc.

Red color

In this infected plastic vest like gloves, catheter, IV set, bottle, blade and urine bag are kept.

Blue color

The broken glass bottle is collected in it.

Storage and Transportation

Biomedical wastes are stored in polythene as per color coding and brought to the central storage to store. It is kept until this biomedical waste is collected in sufficient quantity. Then it is sent to the disposal site for disposal by proper means of transport.

Treatment and disposal

There are several methods of disposal of biomedical waste which depend on its type. These methods are-

Incineration

It is a high temperature thermal process that converts waste materials into inert materials and gases by combustion. This can be from an oil or electrically operated machine or a combination thereof.There are broadly three types of incinerators used for hospital waste: hearth type, rotary kiln and controlled air type. All types may have primary and secondary combustion chambers to ensure maximum combustion.

Chemical method

Blue and red color bag vests such as plastic bags, catheters, gloves etc. are immersed in the disinfectant solution before disposal. For this, 1% hypochloric acid can be used.

Microwaves irradiation

In this method, high frequency microwaves are applied to the infected waste which destroys microorganisms.

Autoclaving

It works on the principle of simple pressure cooker. It is used to sterilize steam at high temperatures. It destroys the micro-organism. It has disinfected things made of heavy metal.

Plasma pyrolasis

Plasma pyrolysis is a state-of-the-art technique for the safe disposal of medical waste. It is an environmentally friendly technology that converts organic waste into commercially useful by-products. The high heat generated by plasma enables it to dispose of all types of waste, including municipal solid waste, biomedical waste and hazardous waste in a safe and reliable manner. Medical waste in CO, H2 and hydrocarbons is destroyed when exposed to plasma arcs. These gases are ignited and a high temperature (about 1200 ℃) is produced.