Mahmood, Saqib Shahab, Raza Malik, Waqar Azim.
A study of waste generation, collection and disposal in a tertiary hospital in Pakistan.
Pak J Med Res Jan ;40(1):13-7.

Hospitals produce both infectious and non-infectious waste that is often mixed thus rendering the entire waste infectious, and making its handling, collection, transportation and disposal more difficult, expensive and sometimes dangerous. This direct observational study was conducted to measure the type and quantity of infectious and non-infectious hospital waste in a tertiary care hospital at Rawalpindi. A comprehensive quantitative as well as qualitative assessment was made of waste generation in departments and wards as well as its segregation, collection, transportation and disposal. Waste was categorised into three types, "infectious", "sharps" and "municipal" and weighed. Moreover, the prevailing practices of waste management by hospital staff were observed The average waste generation rate in different wards was found to be 1.35 Kg/bed/day. The maximum infectious waste was being generated in surgical wards. The waste was neither properly segregated, nor transported and disposed of in a scientific manner, posing immense risks to the hospital patients and staff as well as the public at large. Solid waste was being dumped in the open within the hospital grounds, to be removed sporadically by the municipality. Untreated liquid waste was being discharged into the sewerage system. In conclusion, collection and disposable system of the hospital waste was not satisfactory, and required to be address as soon as possible.

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