Abstract
This study aims to estimate the quantity of healthcare waste categorically generated in four different healthcare in Dar es Salaam city namely, Muhimbili National Hospital, Mwananyamala Regional Referral Hospital, Temeke Regional Referral Hospital and Ilala Regional Referral Hospital to evaluate the quantities of medical waste generated based on their level and capacity. Waste was collected in different categories of non-infectious, sharps, infectious, infectious plastics, and pathological waste which were measured daily for fourteen (14) consecutive days in all hospitals by using a weighting scale and observational checklist to document related waste management information and the assessment of the healthcare waste generation in each hospital. The average general healthcare waste generation rate per healthcare ranges from 298.9 kg/day to 1554.4 kg/day. The high fluctuation in general medical waste was established to be attributed to specialization difference between one hospital to the other, and the large number of in-patients and out patients between hospitals. The overall average sharps waste generation rate was established to range from 8.5 ± 2.7 - 13.9 ± 1.8 kg/day. Higher values of sharps waste generated observed at Muhimbili hospital are due to emergency cases referred to from other hospitals located within the city and from the surrounding districts and other regions of the country. The results from this study, raise alarm to hospital administrators, and other health stakeholders working in related fields to give special attention and priority in setting a related share in their budgets for proper management of medical waste in their health facilities.
Highlights
There are extraordinary challenges for the healthcare systems and local governments in Africa involved in the response to the outbreak of deadly diseases like coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) or Ebola and many of those challenges will persist long after the outbreak has passed [1]
This study aims to estimate the quantity of healthcare waste categorically generated in four different healthcare in Dar es Salaam city namely, Muhimbili National Hospital, Mwananyamala Regional Referral Hospital, Temeke Regional Referral Hospital and Ilala Regional Referral Hospital to evaluate the quantities of medical waste generated based on their level and capacity
The average general healthcare waste generation rate per health center ranges from 298.9 kg/day collected at Mwananyamala regional referral hospital to 1554.4 kg/day collected at Muhimbili national hospital (Figure 3) These values resemble the results reported in Middle East, Latin America and India which ranged between 1.0 - 3.0 kg/day [24]
Summary
There are extraordinary challenges for the healthcare systems and local governments in Africa involved in the response to the outbreak of deadly diseases like coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) or Ebola and many of those challenges will persist long after the outbreak has passed [1]. The provision of sanitation services and handling of waste is essential for protecting human health during all infectious disease outbreaks, including COVID-19 [2]. One such challenge was the safe disposal of potentially infected healthcare waste especially in the overcrowded urban communities where many of the cases occurred [3]. Management of healthcare waste is very important due to its infectious and hazardous nature that can cause risks on environment and public health [4]. Other wastes generated in healthcare are non-hazardous material which includes medication boxes, the packaging materials for medical items and food, office appliances and remains of foodstuff [6]
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