Document Type : Original quantitative and Qualitative Research Article

Authors

1 MSc of Environmental Health Engineering, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences.

2 PhD of Environmental Health, School of Public Health, Department of Environmental Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences.

3 PhD Student of Environmental Health, School of Public Health, Department of Environmental Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences.

Abstract

Background & objective: Parallel to the growth of Population  and increasing healthcare needs ,the production of medical wastes is constantly increasing . Owing to the poor healthcare waste management ,this study  surveys the state of waste management in  Shariati Hospital of Tehran using IRAT in 2015 as part of WHO's strategy.
 
Matrial&Methods:This descriptive study recorded 70 questions asked from environmental health and waste authorities  after inspection the implementation waste management law using the IRAT tool . The waste products for sectors  were weighed for one month.
 
Results:The average weighing  was 1911.68 kg waste production, which included 1.910.314 of infectious waste rate, 2.110.254 of domestic, 0.10.027  of  Chemical/Pharmaceutical and 0.080.032 kg/b/d of sharp particles. According to the results, 18% of the  bags and safety boxes with the capacity of more than 3/4 were collected with only 34 parts (72%) regular label waste bags. In addition, the  hospital manager did not anticipate a specific budget  to cover the costs of waste management.
 
Conclusion:According to the IRAT analysis, the final score for the hospital was poor  i.e. 50.71% which included 75.9% for separation, 78.9% for collection, 77.8% for transmission and storage and 81.7% for the treatment and disposal. The infectious waste rate ,that is 47.27%, seems more than that  recommended by WHO. So it is necessary to have more educational programs  in the field of waste separation for  reducing the source of infections and hazardous wastes. Legal measures should be done to make the authorities of health centers  implement the waste management rules.

Keywords

 
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