Infectious Waste Disposal in Developing Countries: Recommended Minimal Practices from a Hospital Survey in Southeast Asia

Abstract

When managed ineffectively, infectious hospital wastes in developing countries can compromise the quality of patient care and create significant occupational, public, and environmental health risks. Three types of hospital facilities in a developing country were studied to assess waste separation, transport, treatment, and disposal practices. The staff of a municipal General Hospital (1,650 beds) did not appropriately separate wastes and disposed of untreated solid wastes by surface dumping near the hospital grounds, pending municipal collection and disposal in an unsecured landfill. While personnel of a rural Divisional Hospital (150 beds) did not effectively separate sharps from other forms of medical waste, they disposed of all solid wastes on hospital grounds in a secured ground pit, followed by burning and soil cover. Workers at a rural Township Hospital (25 beds) separated wastes and disposed of them by; (i) burning general and most medical wastes in a ground pit, (ii) using a separate pit with metal cover and delivery tube to burn needle and other sharps, and (iii) incinerating all forms of paper wastes.