Management Of Bio Medical Waste

Abstract

Medical care is vital for our life and health, but the waste generated from medical activities represents a real problem of living nature and human world which includes the newly seen, “Hospital-inflicted diseases”. All round technological progress has led to increased availability of health related consumer goods, which have the potentiality to produce more waste. The bio-medical waste produced in the health care activities include wide variety of drugs, antibiotics, cytotoxic, corrosive chemicals, radioactive substances (1), which ultimately become part of hospital waste. This waste carries a higher potential for infection and injury than any other type of waste. Inappropriate handling of biomedical waste has led to serious public health consequences and a significant impact on the environment which is due to inappropriate recycling, unauthorised and illegal re-use and increase in the quantum of waste (6). Public health is compromised due to lack of accountability in the handling of hospital waste; specifically body fluid contaminated equipment and containers as well as microbiological materials. Though scientists and public authorities around the world are realizing that human actions have to be responsible regarding not only the social and economic matters but also protection of public health .The most important process to protect public health is establishment of a manifest system of cradle-to-grave accountability for the infectious portion of a hospital’s waste. “Cleanliness is next to Godliness”, this phrase is to be involved with the noble profession of medical science. This paper represents the systematic management of the Bio-Medical Waste. It deals with proper handling, segregation according to the colour coding, mutilation, disinfection, storage, transportation and final effective disposal of bio-medical waste. It also states the difficulties being faced by the processor in effective disposal.