| Hospital waste can cause serious health problems -
26-12-2005, 03:00 AM
Hospital waste can cause serious health problems
KOL Report
KATHMANDU, Dec 26 -
Disposal of hazardous waste produced by hospitals and nursing homes in Kathmandu Valley is likely to cause serious health problems in the next decade.
The figures provided by Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC), shows that approximately three tons of hazardous waste gets mixed up with household waste that is dumped along the banks of the Bagmati river.
Worse, KMC has washed its hands off the issue of hospital waste, and is not dumping them at the newly constructed landfill site in Sisdol, which is coming into full operation from October next year.
"The dumping site in Balkhu is about to close down and the new landfill site at Sisdol will come into full operation in October 2006 but no medical wastes will go there," said Rajesh Manandhar, chief of KMC's Solid Waste Management Section, Environment Department. He was presenting a paper at a workshop organized here by Nepal Health Research Council here Sunday.
"Hospital waste management is an extra burden on KMC which is already grappling with severe shortages of manpower," he added.
Experts said 80 percent of hospital wastes is non-hazardous, and of the remaining 20 percent are hazardous, 15 highly infectious hospital waste products have severe health implications.
Hazardous wastes such as needless and syringes and disposable surgical equipments, including those used in the operation theaters, need special treatment, including incinerators to burn them. However, the controversy over the use of appropriate technology to treat these hazardous wastes has left the matter unresolved.
One incinerator with KMC has been lying idle in Teku since 2002 after locals in the area protested.
According to a report: "Impact Assessment of Training on Healthcare Waste Management" released here on Sunday by Nepal Health Research Council (NHRC), hospitals have been dumping 90 percent of their wastes on the roadsides since 2002. The assessment was carried out in Patan Hospital, Model Hospital, Bir Hospital, B&B, Maternity Hospital, Nepal Eye Hospital, Everest Nursing Home and TU Teaching Hospital, among others.
Limited budget, space, lack of facility and commitment from the management, absence of policy, rules and guidelines, have been cited as some of the problems leading to unsafe disposal of waste.
However, the survey noted some progress including increase in the awareness of health staff on the management of wastes, use of "close device" in hospitals for collection of wastes, use of masks, gloves and hepatitis injection. | 
Linear Mode
