EVALUATION OF BIOMEDICAL WASTE MANAGEMENT IN A TERTIARY CARE HOSPITAL – A STUDY AT VIMS & RC

ABSTRACT

Bio medical Waste (BMW) collection and disposal has become major concern for the medical and general Community. Improper waste management is hazardous to health care workers, patients, general Public and largely the environment. i) To evaluate the practices of BMW Management at source of generation and Aims & Objectives: transportation among different patient care areas at Vydehi Hospital ii) To analyze the quantity of waste generates iii)To assess the Knowledge, Attitude and Practices(KAP)among health care personnel regarding waste management. Methodology: It is a direct Observational and cross-sectional study which was conducted for a period of 12 months at VIMS & RC (Vydehi Institute of Medical Sciences & Research Centre). It was evaluated under 4 categories, with a checklist of 20 parameters among 40 patient care areas. Simple random sampling technique is used to select the study subjects for the KAP questionnaire. At VIMS & RC, the BMW Results: management mean observation was at the level of “Condition of waste receptacles” were good (95.79%) & least observation noted with “waste transportation” (52.5%). The total Infectious waste generated was 0.135kg/bed/day and the hospital has got separate colour coded bins in each ward for collection of waste. The safety measure taken by health care workers regarding KAP of biomedical waste management was not satisfactory among Class IV Employees and it was not due to unavailability of personal protective measures but because of un-awareness of health hazards which may occur due to improper waste management practices. It is concluded that there should be strict implementation of waste management policy, proper training and Conclusion: motivation regarding BMW management for all health care workers in hospital.