Medical Waste Management in Gorgan Hospitals

Medical waste, a special subcategory of waste, is highly hazardous due to its infectious or toxic characteristics. Planning of medical waste management is necessary to prevent waste from adversely affecting human and environmental health. The objectives of this study were to determine quantity of different types of waste and clarifying existing situation of waste management in Gorgan Hospitals. This descriptive cross-sectional study was performed in 8 hospitals of Gorgan in 2010. Data were collected using a checklist and a questionnaire and their validity and reliability were verified. The data were analyzed using SPSS software. Average waste production in Gorgan Hospitals was 2143 kg/day and infectious, medical sharps, and general waste accounts for 47.42, 1.2, and 51.38%, respectively. Respective values for waste production rates for total waste, infectious, medical sharps, and general wastes were 2.53, 1.21, 0.015, and 1.3 percent. The high percentage of infectious waste indicate that despite the plentiful efforts for managing of medical wastes, the current waste management system in the hospitals of Gorgan city is well below the standard criteria particularly in segregation procedures. Training seminars for hospital personnel is recommended in order to promote personnel awareness on medical waste segregation. t is important to emphasize that the medical waste management cannot succeed without cooperation and participation of all relevant parties.