THE PRACTICE AND CHALLENGES OF BIOMEDICAL WASTE MANAGEMENT: A study of Selected Medical Facilities in Ile Ife, Osun State
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Date
2018
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Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Faculty of Environmental Sciences, University of Ilorin
Abstract
In pursuing their aims of providing treatment and safeguarding the health of the people against illnesses,
health-care services inevitably create waste that is hazardous to health and whose management has
remained a great challenge due to its highly toxic contents. This paper examines the practice of biomedical
waste management in some medical facilities in Ile-Ife with a view to determining the risks associated with
the practice. Four medical facilities with some level of sophistication in waste management were
purposively selected for study. The type of waste generated was determined by sorting of waste while handheld
scale was used to determine the volume of waste generated. Questionnaire was used to obtain
information from the waste management and medical staff of the selected medical facilities. Descriptive
(frequencies and percentages) and inferential statistics (Multinomial logistic regression) were used in
analysing the data. The study established that the daily per capita waste generation in the medical facilities
was 0.51kg. Scrap (Syringes and absorbent paper) (96.7%), infectious (Excreta and dressing swabs)
(72.9%) and pathological wastes (Human tissue and body fluid) (57.0%)were the most generated waste
while open dumping and pit burial of waste were widely practiced among the medical facilities. Exposure
to harmful chemical and radioactive waste (68.8%)and injuries from sharps (52.3%)pose serious health
risks not only to the waste managers but health care workers. The paper holds that solutions to the
challenges of biomedical waste management practices lie in strict adherence to the global best practices as
recommended by the World Health Organisation.
Description
Keywords
Biomedical Waste;, Medical Facilities;, Incineration, Radioactive Waste, Infections