Waste disposal of government health-care facilities in urban area of Karachi - a KAP survey

ABSTRACT

Waste produced by health-care facilities can be broadly divided into two categories, non-infectious waste comprises 75% to 90% of the total waste, is non-risk health waste, can be disposed of like other waste in municipal landfills whereas infectious waste comprises10% to 25% consist of syringes, needles, chemicals, body parts, drugs etcs, needs treatment before disposal. To find out knowledge, attitude and practice of personnel involved in waste disposal of health-care facilities. Cross-sectional, hospital based survey conducted on 137 personnel involved in waste management of 68 randomly selected health-care facilities, in urban area of Karachi. Data of 9 hospitals, 11 maternity homes and 29 dispensaries, comprising 137 sanitary workers showed that knowledge of all [100%] workers about hospital waste management was poor whereas attitude of 38% and practice of only 2% was good. The study further showed that 24.5% health-care facilities disposed infectious and non-infectious waste without any treatment into public dustbins, 73.7% sanitary workers carry waste in open buckets for final disposal. None of the sanitary workers have undergone routine medical check-ups except when ill, 67.9% were not provided any protective equipment. It was also found that 96.4% were not interested in health education for the safe disposal of health-care facilities waste rather they were just doing their jobs for their earning. Infectious and non-infectious waste were collected together and disposed off in municipal landfills; while liquid waste is disposed off into the sewerage system without any treatment. The study showed that the knowledge, attitude and practice of personnel involved in health care facilities' waste management are extremely poor and proper facilities for management of hospital waste are almost non-existent in Karachi