Abstract

Background: Biomedical waste is any waste, which is generated during the diagnosis, treatment or immunization of human beings or in research activities or in the production or testing of biological products. Biomedical waste can be categorized into non-hazardous and bio-hazardous. Approximately 75-90% of the biomedical waste are non hazardous and as harmless as any other municipal waste. The remaining 10-25% is hazardous and can be injurious to humans or animals and deleterious to environment. Inadequate and inappropriate knowledge of handling of healthcare waste may have serious health consequences and a significant impact on the environment as well. Hospitals/health care services inevitably create waste that may itself be hazardous to health. The waste produces in the course of health care activities carries a higher potential for injury, infection and pollution due to open burning, than any other type of waste.

Objective: The objective was to assess knowledge, attitude, risk perception and practices of doctors, interns, nurses, laboratory technicians, attenders and housekeeping staff regarding biomedical waste management.

Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study done in a medical college rural hospital. A total of 128 health personal were included in the study with their prior consent. Study subjects include doctors (18), interns (21), nurses (27), laboratory technicians (15), attenders (26)  and housekeeping staff (19).

Results: Doctors, nurses have better knowledge than other staff regarding health care waste management. Regarding practices related to health care waste management nurses were better. Knowledge regarding the colour coding and waste segregation at source was found to be better among nurses and laboratory staff.

Conclusion: The importance of training regarding health care waste management needs emphasis; lack of complete knowledge about biomedical waste management impacts practices of appropriate waste disposal. Seggregation of waste in our hospital is non-satisfactory. And handling of biomedical waste is still a matter of serious concern for health authorities in India.

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