A study on Biomedical waste management at a tertiary care centre in remote rural area of Mewat, Haryana

Introduction: The indiscriminate disposal of waste has resulted in a rise in deadly infections such as Human Immunodeficiency virus and Hepatitis B. Therefore, Biomedical Waste Management has recently emerged as an issue of major concern. Objectives: To study the handling, segregation and collection practices of bio-medical solid waste in the hospital and its mandatory compliance with Regulatory Notifications for Bio-medical Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 1998. Materials and Methods: Primary data was collected from the interview basis of the staff and personal observation by visiting the sites of biomedical waste generation, segregation, temporary collection and transport. Secondary data was collected from the records of the department by the permission of the hospital administration team. Results: Total 86 sites of biomedical waste generation were visited. Location of bags & dustbins at right place was found 100% correct in case of yellow, red & blue bags while it was correct in case of black bags 98.83% of location points. All the bags (100%) were leak-proof. Availability of black, red, yellow & blue bag was 88.37%, 95.38%, 91.86% & 97.67% respectively. Daily collection of BMW from black, red, yellow & blue bag was 96.51%, 96.51%, 98.83% & 97.67% respectively. Out of all visited sites needle destroyers were present at 97.67% places & were in working condition at 95.34% places. Syringes were not kept in different buckets for disinfection except 5.81% sites. Before transportation to temporary storage area BMW is being tagged only at 10.46% of total sites. Compliance with the rules was found to be 62%. Conclusion: Biomedical waste management in hospital of SHKM GMC is in compliance with Biomedical Waste (management & handling) Rules. But, still there is a scope of further improvement in BMW management practices, so that proper follow up of mandatory rules can be ensured