Objectives: The study was designed to find out the type and quantity of different type of wastes generated inthe two wings of Saidu Group of teaching Hospitals. The study also aimed at finding that whether facilitiesare available in different units for the segregation, storage, disinfection of infectious waste at the onset andmethods of disposal of waste within and outside the hospital. Also, types of items reused and their methodsof sterilization and the fate of used syringes was found out.Study Design: ObservationalMethodology: The study focus was Saidu Teaching Hospital (STH), a tertiary care hospital providingservices to the people of Swat, Malakand, Dir, Kohistan and areas far up to Chitral. Situated 1.5 Km apartSTH consists of two administrative units,Saidu Wing and Central Wing.A qualitative analysis of various aspects of waste management was done by reviewing the availableauthentic record and discussion with the sanitary and administrative staff of the hospital. All the data wascollected according to, and filled in a pre-designed questionnaire.Results: It was found that Saidu Teaching Hospital generates more than 550 Kg of solid waste and 1295liters of liquid waste per day, which makes 1.2 Kg/bed/day. As a whole 80% of the waste generated wasordinary garbage, 12% was infectious, 4% was Pharmacological, 3% pathological and 0.8% consisted ofsharps.The provision of facilities for the segregation of waste at outpatient departments, Wards, Operation theatreand Laboratories/Blood Banks were 7.5%, 7%, 20% and 28.5% respectively and for storage of waste beforedisposal at outpatient departments, Wards, Operation theatre and Laboratories / Blood Banks were 22%,8%, 0% and 28.5% respectively.Disinfection of infectious waste at outpatient departments, wards, operation theatre and laboratories / bloodbanks was 10%, 12%, 0% and 17% respectively. Methods used were treatment with phenyl and burning inopen air.About the removal of waste from hospital premises, 78% mentioned sweepers, 17% said rig pickers while5% said that there is no one to take away the waste.54% admitted that they threw the syringes as such in thebins.The study found that 80% of the waste went to the municipal corporation land fills, the rest was either burntor thrown as such into the water channel passing through the hospital (12% & 8% respectively). 67% blamedthe administration, 25 % held the doctors responsible, 37% charged the nursing staff and 67% blamed thesweepers for the faulty management of hospital waste.Conclusion: It is thus concluded that Saidu Teaching Hospital generates huge amount of solid and liquidwaste, which is not properly disposed off currently, therefore it needs modern and scientific waste disposalsystems.Keywords: Waste Management, hospital waste management, waste disposal
Applying Lean Six Sigma methods to improve infectious waste management in hospitals
