Critical Analysis of Clinical Waste Management System in National Hospital of Sri Lanka

D B Ayanthi Saranga Jayawardena

doi:10.21767/2248-9215.100049

Abstract

Health care waste at the National Hospital of Sri Lanka (NHSL) consists of infectious, hazardous as well as nonhazardous waste generated at various places within the institution. Health care waste management function in the NHSL is outsourced to a private company. Waste Management needs due attention and if the procedure did not follow the safe methods definitely create a great problem to the patients, staff as well as the public and the environment. The segregation of waste at the selected units was satisfactory. All (100%) units had a sharp bin to separately collect needles and other sharp materials. They used color code in waste bins. Occupational safety measures take during handling waste were not satisfactory. None of them were found wearing protective gloves, masks or boots. Even though the wards practice segregation of waste according to the color code, the transportation of waste from wards to the disposal area was unhealthy and not up to the standards. This was mainly due to the carelessness of the staff, supervisors and the cleaning service workers. The knowledge on safe handling and transporting waste among waste handlers were not adequate thus they deserves for training on healthcare waste management.

Highlights

Health Care Waste Management (HCWM) deserves due attention by the healthcare authorities and consider as an important issue face by the managers of hospitals
This study was conducted at the National Hospital of Sri Lanka (NHSL) the largest curative healthcare institution in Sri Lanka and the South East Asia Region
In this study the Principal Investigator (PI) found that, waste handlers did not practice personal protective methods in handling waste because of the lack of knowledge similar to the studies done by Paudel et al, Njaqi et al as well as due to unavailability of masks and boots for them and similar result found in Samarakoon and Gunawardena in their study, where they found that, health care workers do not practice safety methods due to their negligence on HCWM

Summary

Introduction

Health Care Waste Management (HCWM) deserves due attention by the healthcare authorities and consider as an important issue face by the managers of hospitals. Institutions which do not practice safe HCW management and disposal practices, create a great problem and increase the risks to people and the environment [1]. About 75% to 90% of the waste produced by health institutions is considered as “non-hazardous” or “general healthcare waste”. It comes mostly from the administrative, kitchen and housekeeping functions at health-care facilities (Figure 1). The remaining 10–25% of health-care waste is regarded as “hazardous” and cause variety of environmental and health risks

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Discussion

Conclusion