Abstract
A proper waste management system is very important in healthcare facilities because the overall benefit outweighs the cost. In the healthcare sector, hazardous health care waste (HHCW) consists of wastes that are potentially contaminated by dangerous agents. Identification and segregation of HHCW is harbinger for its proper management. The quantitative analysis study on HHCW had not been done in Qatar government hospitals. This study quantitatively analyzed the current practice for HHCW management in Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC), Qatar. The objective of this study is to provide a first comprehensive assessment of hazardous healthcare waste managements in Qatar and offers an opportunity to improve existing practice. This is a retrospective survey study carried out on secondary data collected from the department of occupational health and safety (OHS), HMC. OHS department collects and keeps records of hazardous wastes produced by HMC. Data on the HMC hospitals’ characteristics from 2017 to 2019 were retrieved from Planning and Statistics Authority’s website. World Health Organization (WHO) formula for calculating HHCW generation rate was used to calculate the rate for HMC. Data analysis results show a steady increase in HHCW generation rate in HMC, the generation rate was 2.6 Kg/patient bed/day, 2.8 Kg/patient bed/day and 3.1 Kg/patient bed/day for the years 2017, 2018 and 2019 respectively. There were also significant variations in HHCW generation rates between hospitals. The highest generation rate was 4.64 Kg/patient bed/day recorded for AWH and the lowest was 0.2 Kg/patient bed/day recorded for mental health and both hospitals contributing 23.18% and 0.29% respectively of HHCW in HMC.
Highlights
Global campaign for proper waste management is critical for the conservation of our environment and public health promotion
The highest generation rate was 4.64 Kg/patient bed/day recorded for Al Wakra Hospital (AWH) and the lowest was 0.2 Kg/patient bed/day recorded for mental health and both hospitals contributing 23.18% and 0.29% respectively of health care waste (HHCW) in Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC)
The data findings from the HMC demonstrates that from the ten samples of the different healthcare facilities, Hamad General Hospital (HGH) had the largest number of active beds between 2017to 2019 with 678, 663 and 678 respectively (Table 1(a))
Summary
Global campaign for proper waste management is critical for the conservation of our environment and public health promotion. The environmental, health and economic benefits of proper management and control of healthcare wastes had been reported by several authors [1] [2] [3]. Generally wastes are categorized into two broad groups: hazardous and non-hazardous wastes [4] [5] [6]. In the healthcare or medical sector, hazardous wastes consist of wastes that are potentially contaminated by biological, chemical, or physical agents that possess health or environmental hazards [7] [8] [9] [10]. Several studies had suggested that a typical general hospital in any country worldwide produces about 80% non-hazardous and 20% hazardous wastes. The hazardous group is composed of about 15% pathological waste, 3% chemical waste, 1% sharp waste, and less than 1% special waste such as cytotoxic, broken thermometers, pressurized containers, radioactive waste and used batteries [9] [11] [12]
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