Medical Waste Generation And Its Management – An Analysis

Population growth is very high in developing countries, so the problem of poverty and unemployment is increasing day by day. To fulfill the requirement of the over population the facilities are developing in the developing countries. Medical waste management is a big challenge of the health facilities. These health facilities are developing day by day and the treatment facilities of waste are not developing in developing countries. So a huge amount of solid waste is increasing at alarming rate here. Untreated medical waste is hand overed to the municipal authority to deposition it. Such types of waste generate the environmental degradation problems and effects on the human health. Very few medical facilities have suitable management of it but mostly medical facilities have not proper management of medical waste. Plastics, papers, polythene, metals, cardboard, trees leaf, waste foods, human tissues, glass, cloths etc. are found in medical waste. Hospitals, nursing home, clinics and pathology labs are the main sources of solid waste generation of the health facilities. Due to poor management of solid waste of the medical facilities the problem of environmental degradation is increasing at alarming rate here. Hazardous waste is very dangerous to the human health. It is estimated that it is almost 15% of the total amount of the medical waste. Such types of waste contains potentially harmful micro organism that can be spread among healthcare personnel, hospitals, patients and the general public, causing serious illness.