a study of hospital waste management at shri maharaja hari singh (s.m.h.s) hospital in srinagar

Research Article
Shaheen Khurshid, R. Mathur, Shagoofta Rasool Shah, Manzoor Ahmad Bhat and Reyaz Ahmad
DOI: 
xxx-xxxx-xxx
Subject: 
science
KeyWords: 
Hospital waste management; biomedical waste; segregation of waste; waste disposal; infectious waste
Abstract: 

Improper management of hospital waste has serious implications on public health and the general environment. The present study was carried at Shri Maharaja Hari Singh (S.M.H.S) Hospital attached to Government Medical College (G.M.C) Srinagar, Kashmir to study existing system of hospital waste management and evaluation of waste produced ward wise. A questionnaire developed by Central Pollution Control board, Ministry of Environment and Forests, India was used for collection of data. No special Training was given to health workers. Observations were made regarding the prevailing systems of hospital waste collection, segregation, transportation and disposal at S.M.H.S. Collection and weighing of wastes was carried out with the help of a weighing machine daily three times i.e, morning, afternoon and in late evening hours for seven consecutive days. It was found that there was no proper segregation of the waste starting from the generation to disposal; there was no separate committee for the management of the hospital waste and most of the waste was incinerated. Total infectious waste produced by SMHS was 1.103 kg/pt/day and the noninfectious waste was 3.642 kg /pt/day. Also, SMHS produced around 4.759 kg/pt/day of waste on average.