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Hazards Of
Bio-Medical Waste:
 The
problems associated with bio-medical
waste are manifold. They are hazardous to
people both within and outside
health-care institutions and also
contaminate the land, air and water
through inadequate disposal methods. The
Ministry of Environment & Forests
have made it mandatory for all health
care institutes to take adequate steps to
safely dispose the bio-medical waste
generated by them. However, the costs
involved with disposing these wastes
using the right technologies are very
high. The trend all over the world is to
move towards centralised facilities in
order to have better control and
monitoring of the handling and disposal
of bio-medical wastes.
 Salient
Features of a Typical Centralised System
Training...
Two personnel from
every participating institute will be
given training for two weeks on
segregation of the waste and will be
certified Hospital Waste Officers. They
will be responsible for Hospital Waste
Management in their institute.
 Segregation...
Different colour bags
as per bio-medical waste management rules
will be provided. The filled bags will be
placed in special colour coded, lockable,
wheeled, airtight, heat-resistant and
biohazard sign marked waste containers
(also provided by us). Containers can be
bar-coded and weighed for billing
purposes.
Transportation...
The waste containers
will be loaded into special trucks and
transported to the central site. The full
containers will be exchanged for empty
ones.
 Treatment
After transportation
to the central treatment site, the wastes
are treated strictly as per standards
specified in 'Bio-Medical Waste
Management & Handling Rules' based on
their characteristics.
Treatment by
Autoclaving...
Infectious solid
wastes such as plastics (blood bags,
tubings, catheters, etc.,) sharps, items
contaminated with blood (cotton
dressings, beddings, etc.) are
autoclaved.
 Treatment
by Incineration...
Haat incinerators,
with their vast experience in
incineration systems, will provide their
new age design incinerators for the
treatment and disposal of pathological
wastes. The segregated pathological
wastes, collected in non-chlorinated
plastic bags are incinerated in
accordance with the standards.
 Shredding
and Final Disposal...
Disinfected wastes are
shredded if required and are either
recycled or landfilled.
Benefits of
Centralised Bio-Medical Waste Management
Systems
-
No hazards
inside or outside the hospital
-
No environmental
impact
-
Increase in the
hygiene of the hospital and its
appearance
-
Very low
treatment costs as compared to
individual treatment facilities
-
Safe and
practical segregation, collection
and transport strategies
-
Cost reduction
through integrated waste management
-
Enables the
institute to conform to all legal
requirements by environment
friendly disposal
The Shimla
Municipal Corporation has set up an
incinerator near Indira Gandhi
Medical College and Hospital for the
management of bio-medical waste generate
from health care institutions and other
sources like slaughterhouses in the town.
SImilar systems are already in use in
other Municipal Corporations like Pune,
Hyderabad and even at Kathmandu, Nepal. |
