Dhaka, Sept 13 – Medical wastes, including used PPEs masks and sanitizer bottles, are posing a serious threat to public health and environment as those generated outside hospitals and clinics remain without management across Bangladesh.There is no proper management for biomedical wastes generated in healthcare establishments in some major cities since well-equipped medical waste management plants are there only in Dhaka, Sylhet, Rangpur, Rajshahi and Jashore.
Now the Covid-related wastes are generated largely outside healthcare establishments due to the use of personal protective equipment (PPE plus face-masks, gloves and sanitizer containers, but these mostly remain untreated.
Experts have stressed the need for proper management of the medical care wastes generated both inside and outside the healthcare establishments for the sake of public health and the environment.
In capital Dhaka, PRISM Bangladesh Foundation has been treating the medical wastes since 2006 following an agreement signed with the then unified Dhaka City Corporation. But medical wastes genarated outside the healthcare establishments remain beyond its collection chain.
The agreements of Prisom Bangladesh signed with Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) and Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) are renewed after every six years.
“We collect the biomedical wastes from some 950 healthcare establishments like hospitals, clinics and diagnostic centres, to treat at the ‘Medical Waste Management Plant in Matuail landfill site,” said Mazharul Islam, Coordinator, Medical Waste Management Programme, PRISM Bangladesh.
PRISM collects over six tonnes of wastes from the capital’s healthcare establishments a day, which was some 10-11 tonnes during pre-Covid-19 period, he said, adding that the collection of medical wastes is on the rise again.
“The PPE-related wastes are mostly generated outside hospitals and clinics. So, these wastes don’t come in our collection chain,” he said.
Following the outbreak of Covid-19, the DNCC authorities asked the city dwellers to store their used PPEs in polybags for management by PRISM. But the amount of such wastes collected from households is very insignificant, said Mazharul Islam.
During Wari lockdown, PRISM also collected medical wastes from the area and treated those, he said.
The medical wastes are segregated and kept in red, yellow and green bins considering the types of the wastes. Then PRISM collects the wastes using its 11 covered vans.
The Matuail plant was the lone medical waste management plant in Bangladesh with incinerator till 2018. Later, three more such plants were set up in Sylhet, Rangpur and Rajshahi. Besides, there’s a small plant having only an auto-clave in Jashore. All the plants are run by PRISM Bangladesh, he said.
Air Commodore Md Badrul Amin, Chief Waste Management Officer, DSCC says that it is not possible for the corporation to segregate medical wastes from household wastes. “It’ll take time (to go for treatment of domestic healthcare wastes),” he said.
He said they are yet to get any complaint from PRISM whether it faces any problem or challenge in collection and treatment of medical wastes generated in hospitals and clinics amid the Covid-19 pandemic. “If we receive any complaint, then we’ll take measures accordingly,” said the DSCC official.
Muzaherul Huq, former regional advisor (South East Asia) of the World Health Organisation (WHO), said the medical wastes posing a serious threat to public health should completely be segregated from household wastes to manage those separately.
“Domestic healthcare wastes are being mixed with other household wastes, which is very alarming,” he said. Dumping of healthcare wastes with other household wastes increases the risk of the spread of Covid-19 and other diseases, he said.
Dr MA Matin, an environmentalist, said the picture of the country’s medical waste management is gloomy as household healthcare wastes are not managed safely, rather dumped with other wastes. Besides, medical wastes generated in hospitals and clinics in some major cities are also not treated properly, he said. – UNB
