Abstract
The present pandemic, while causing economic slowdown and global panic, also generated healthcare waste in unprecedented amounts across the globe, due to mass screenings/diagnosing/treatment. This paper aims to explore the prospects of the current and future challenges with respect to the risk to human health due to environmental contamination with the healthcare waste generated as a result of and caused by the Covid-19 pandemic in the Indian context. Peer-reviewed literature with respect to healthcare waste generation during the pandemic, its burden, challenges, and policies promulgated during the pandemic and their implications for the future was searched on various databases like PubMed, Google Scholar, and Science Direct and reviewed. Many research studies and international reports have demonstrated that the quantity of biomedical waste has increased in the times of the Covid-19 pandemic across the globe. Additionally, the danger of general waste getting contaminated has also multiplied, in part due to increased quarantine facilities and home quarantines, along with hospitals managing Covid-19 patients and also due to inadequate segregation at the point of generation of such waste, which is a major concern in itself. The occupational exposure of this increased waste to hospital and municipal waste collection workers has also increased, though World Health Organization (WHO) declines having any evidence of transmission of coronavirus while handling healthcare waste. Enough policies existed before the pandemic and few newer guidelines are also issued to address various additional aspects, which are to be implemented to manage the healthcare waste, minimize threats to the environment and human health. Cleaner, greener waste management facilities, the inclusion of bio-disaster in disaster management, the social impact of waste management policies, and waste reduction are to be prioritized.
Highlights
Around late December, China, in one of its provinces, reported a cluster of pneumonia-like cases, which were later confirmed and diagnosed as ‘Covid-19’ cases on 7th January 2020 (Holshue et al 2020)
The healthcare waste is defined as “any waste which is generated during the diagnosis, treatment or immunization of human beings or animals or research activities pertaining thereto or in the production or testing of biological or in health camps, including the categories mentioned in Schedule 1 of Biomedical Waste Management (BMWM) rules, 2016” (CPCB 2016)
This paper aims to explore the impact, burden and prospects of the current & future challenges with respect to the risk to human health due to environmental contamination with the healthcare waste generated as a result of and caused by the Covid-19 pandemic
Summary
Around late December, China, in one of its provinces, reported a cluster of pneumonia-like cases, which were later confirmed and diagnosed as ‘Covid-19’ cases on 7th January 2020 (Holshue et al 2020). Green Tribunal adjudicated that “Unscientific disposal of bio-medical waste had the potential of serious diseases such as Gastrointestinal infection, Respiratory infection, Eye infection, Genital infection, Skin infection, Anthrax, Meningitis, AIDS, Hemorrhagic fevers, Septicemias, Viral Hepatitis type A, Viral Hepatitis type B and C, etc. Such unscientific disposal causes environmental pollution leading to the unpleasant smell, growth and multiplication of vectors like insects, rodents, and worms, and may lead to the transmission of diseases like typhoid, cholera, hepatitis, and AIDS through injuries from syringes and needles contaminated with various communicable diseases” (CPCB 2014, 2016). Peer-reviewed literature with respect to healthcare waste generation during the pandemic, its burden, challenges, and management was searched on various databases like PubMed, Google Scholar, and Science Direct and reviewed for exploration
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