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Most hospitals, clinics in city skip waste management

Helemul Alam
Most of the hospitals, clinics, nursing homes and dental clinics in the capital slip through the medical waste management net, posing a serious health hazard to residents, hospital staff and scavengers.
The Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) began the medical waste management with the help of Prism Bangladesh in July 2005 and has so far succeeded to cover 272 hospitals, clinics and diagnostic centres. But the move is not sufficient enough as it can cover up to 20 percent of medical waste produced in the capital
According to the Health Directorate, there were 437 registered clinics in the capital and 1,971 others elsewhere in the country till April this year. Besides, there are also 4,245 diagnostic centres
and dental clinics in the country, of which 817 are in Dhaka.
"We've succeeded to collect around 20 percent of hazardous waste so far bringing 272 hospitals, clinics and diagnostic centres under our network," said Khandaker Anisur Rahman, executive director of Prism Bangladesh, a private organisation working for management of medical waste.
"The success is not so high as 17 government hospitals in the city generating most of the waste are still out of our management," he said. Nine of these hospitals are large and major sources of medical waste, he added.
Each bed of a clinic or hospital produces on an average 1-1.9 kilogram of waste every day. Of the total waste, only 10-15 percent is hazardous. But the entire waste turns unsafe due to lack of man-
agement, said Jariq Bin Yousuf, project director of DCC landfill improvement project.
Around 1,000 government and private hospitals, clinics and diagnostic centres produce over 200 tonnes of waste every day. Around 30 tonnes of the waste is hazardous and may cause HIV/AIDS infection. Hepatitis B, dysentery, diarrhoea, malaria, scabies, skin ailments and other diseases, Yousuf said.
The waste includes infectious pathogens in such concentrations that exposure to those could result in diseases, he added. Besides, blood, body fluids, tissues, organs, body parts, hazardous pharmaceutical and chemical waste are there.
Sharps needles, blades, syringes, scalpels, saws, broken glass, nails and many items could cause a cut or puncture to passers-by, hesaid.
Waste like used syringes and gloves is picked up by scavengers and sold to unaware patients or their family members at a much lower pnee, hesaid.
The DCC as part of medical waste management has constructed a dump on one acre of land in Matuail. Four units - chemical disinfecting, burial pit. Incinerator and Autoclave - have been set up there.
z\ll kinds of plastic materials are sliced first and then dumped in the chemical disinfecting unit, said Tacit Kanti Biswas, programme coordinator, hospital waste management of Prism Bangladesh.
Liquid waste is treated in the burial pit unit to make it hazard free and then discharged in drains, he added.
Thrit said infectious plastic waste is burned in the incinerator, while blood bags, gloves and other things are disposed ofat the Autoclave unit.
Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH). which is the major source of waste, is going to come under the waste management by September thisyear, said Anis.
He said they have already trained up nurses, ward boys, and management staffs of DMCH through a training programme.
A tender process is on to purchase some necessary items including bins and trolleys in this regard by September 30, he said.
"If everything goes well, we'll start our waste collection work at DMCH from October 1," he said. "We keep four buckets of four colours in each hospital and clinic where the waste is dumped."
The yellow-coloured baskets are for dumping hazardous waste, red baskets for sharp waste, green boxes for recyclable waste and black boxes for general waste, hesaid.
Three vehiclescollect the waste in two shifts from the dimes and hospi-tn’spwrvcl.:.. headded.