Determining the Hazardous Medical Waste Generation Rates of Private Health Care Facilities-Case Study from Dhaka City of Bangladesh

Abstract

Many developing countries are lagging behind the developed countries to properly manage their hazardous healthcare waste. These waste pose a significant epidemiological risks to the general people. To estimate the epidemiological risks and to establish parameters of any waste management plan, quantitative estimation of healthcare waste generation is essential. Most researches on quantitative estimation of healthcare wastes to date, have not addressed the differences in waste generation trends between the government and private healthcare sectors. This study was carried out to estimate the hazardous healthcare waste generation from private healthcare sector of Bangladesh; with a future aim do the same for government healthcare sector. A total of 50 privates healthcare facilities of different categories from Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) and Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) were selected for this study following a random sampling technique. Secondary data was obtained from PRISM Bangladesh (PRISM Bangladesh Foundation is a non-profit voluntary development organization established in 1989. In the context of environmental management, PRISM Bangladesh operates in different areas of Bangladesh with the assistance and support of UN organizations such as UNDP, UNICEF, UNDRO and UNCDF.) for these 50 healthcare facilities and personal visits to waste treatment sites were made. The estimated the hazardous healthcare waste generation rate for the private healthcare sector was found to be 0.17 kg bed^-1 day^-1 on per patient per day basis and an overall of 6796 kg daily. The estimated waste quantity and the proportion of hazardous healthcare waste to total healthcare waste was found to vary significantly due to different parameters related to the type and size of healthcare facility, seasonal variation etc. Based on the findings of this research, more accurate strategic planning of waste management systems for developing countries can be established by governments and municipal authorities to reduce the epidemiological risks.