Assessment of Medical Waste Management in Educational Hospitals of Tehran University Medical Sciences

The management of medical waste is of great importance due to its potential environmental hazards andpublic health risks. In the past, medical waste was often mixed with municipal solid waste and disposed inresidential waste landfills or improper treatment facilities in Iran. In recent years, many efforts have beenmade by environmental regulatory agencies and waste generators to better managing the wastes fromhealthcare facilities. This study was carried in 12 educational hospitals of Tehran University of MedicalSciences. The goals of this study were to characterize solid wastes generated in healthcare hospitals, toreport the current status of medical waste management and to provide a framework for the safemanagement of these wastes at the considered hospitals. The methodology was descriptive, cross-sectional and consisted of the use of surveys and interviews with the authorities of the healthcare facilities and with personnel involved in the management of the wastes. The results showed that medical wastesgenerated in hospitals were extremely heterogeneous in composition. 42% of wastes were collected incontainers and plastic bags. In 75% of hospitals, the stay-time in storage sites was about 12-24h. 92% ofmedical wastes of hospitals were collected by covered-trucks. In 46% of hospitals, transferring of medicalwastes to temporary stations was done manually. The average of waste generation rates in the hospitalswas estimated to be 4.42kg/bed/day.

Keywords
Medical waste, transportation, treatment, management, healthcare hospital