Characterization, quantification and management situation of medical waste in Nepal

Abstract

Waste management is always a serious problem in developing country like Nepal, Medical
waste has become a matter of major concern at present with the growth of health facilities in
both public and private sectors of Nepal, It is a serious concern, as most of its waste goes to
municipal waste management system, There is no proper or separate waste handling, dumping
or incinerating practice for hazardous or hospital waste in Nepal, This study aimed to evaluate
the characterization, quantification and management situation of various health care centers in
Nepal, A study on the waste characterization and quantification as well as existing waste
management system was conducted in six different hospitals and nursing homes of Nepal
during 2004 to 2007, These hospitals has been serving about 0,25 million patients in average
every year, The methodology involved in the study is the collection of the waste from each
ward, segregation, characterization into infectious, non-infectious waste groups and
quantification. In each hospital investigation was conducted for 7-15 days, Existing
management practice were directly observed and documented, Necessary infonnation was
also collected through fonnal and infonnal consultations with different stakeholders of the
concern hospitals, This study found that the average daily waste generation in surveyed
hospitals is 69,35 kg, The average per capita waste generation in these hospitals is 0.66 kg in
which infectious waste was 0, 13 kg/day/person and non-infectious waste was 0,53
kg/day/person, The average infectious waste was almost 22,07% and non- infectious waste
was 77.93% in the surveyed hospitals, Application of strong policies and legislation measures
for proper management of the medical waste is highly needed