Should We Evaluate Our Medical Waste Management More?
12/15/2020
It does not matter whether you are an environmentalist or not, the answer to this question is a big 'YES'.
Hospitals produce the largest amounts of medical waste that is released into the environment. However, other facilities such as laboratories, pharmacies, and medical research facilities also contribute a significant amount of medical waste.
What More Should be Done?
The amount and composition of medical waste vary depending on the type and location of the medical facility. For example, high-income countries produce higher levels of medical waste compared to low-income countries. Because of this difference, it is difficult to provide a single solution to manage medical waste in both instances.
Countries need to evaluate their waste management policies that entails medical waste. They need to come up with a waste management plan, evaluate waste management options and existing policies, implement plans based on set timelines, and allocate both financial and human resources.
The disposal of medical waste also needs to change. According to a private research company known as EPA, healthcare facilities should adopt the method of segregation of medical waste.
Segregation involves separating plastic from non-plastic waste and hazardous from non-hazardous waste. EPA suggests that healthcare facilities need to train their employees on the importance of proper disposal and recycling of medical waste.
Conclusion
Maintaining a well functioning medical waste management system requires continuous training, planning, monitoring, and budgeting. Frequent evaluation will help us to assess the success or failure of the current management systems.