Abstract :
Introduction : Living things and human activities
produce huge waste every day. Globally medical waste is
the second most hazardous waste after radiation waste. In
this context, this study was a modest endeavor to examine
the current situation of ‘Jamalpur 250 Bed General
Hospital’s’ medical waste management practice.
Methods : This cross sectional study was conducted
among doctors, nurses, laboratory technicians and
sanitary staffs at ‘Jamalpur 250 Bed General Hospital’.
185 healthcare personnel were purposively interviewed
(face to face) to assess previous and existing knowledge
and practices of medical waste management. Informed
written consent was taken from the study subjects before
taking interview. Data was collected by a pretested
semi-structured questionnaire.
Results : In our current study, out of 185 respondents,
10.0% were doctors and 43.0% were nurses. F ive among
six color coding segregation system, below 50.0% of the
respondent answered correctly. Only 23.8% respondents
revealed that the waste handler use PPE properly. 90.8%
respondents were mentioned about the lack of storage
place for medical waste at hospital premise. 55.7%
respondents didn’t know about the in house disinfection
process, 56.8% respondents didn’t know about the
municipal vehicle support and 52.4% didn’t know about
the availability of waste management equipment. Poor
knowledge with favorable attitude and risky medical
waste management practice of this hospital’s healthcare
personnel were detected.
Conclusion : This study were indicated that the majority
of healthcare personnel did not apply the recommended
medical waste management practice set by WHO.
Moreover, the current medical waste management
practice in selected district hospital was not managed
properly and could pose a risk for human health and the
environment.
Key words : Medical Waste, Practices, District hospital,
Jamalpur
(J Bangladesh Coll Phys Surg 2020; 38: 160-165)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3329/jbcps.v38i4.48975