Review Article
Year: 2023 | Month: February | Volume: 13 | Issue: 2 | Pages: 98-104
DOI: https://doi.org/10.52403/ijhsr.20230216
Biomedical Waste Management during COVID-19 Pandemic: A Medical Institute Perspective
Gursimran Kaur Mohi1, Bhavana Yadav2, Ishani Bora3, Shaunik Singh4
1,3Department of Virology, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, PGIMER, Sector-12, Chandigarh-160012, India
2Assistant Professor, Department of Microbiology, Gian Sagar Medical College & Hospital, Rajpura, Patiala – 140601, India
4Medical Specialist, Continuum, India
Corresponding Author: Bhavana Yadav
ABSTRACT
Background: The existing considerable lack of awareness about general waste management in low-income countries like India imposes a significant challenge during the COVID-19 pandemic when due to outbreak of novel coronavirus, burden on health agencies has significantly increased.
Objectives: In present review article, we aim to highlight the medical institute’s perspective towards the management of biomedical waste in COVID-19 pandemics. We also aim to analyze the challenges faced during the management of biomedical waste and mentioned the novel strategies which could be applied at the ground level to cope with the challenge of biomedical waste management.
Methods: Data was gathered from government repositories and by interviewing the biomedical waste management staff in our hospital.
Results: Apart from the regular biomedical waste, now the hospitals are generating huge COVID-19 waste in the form of used personal protective equipment, disposable gloves and face masks. The patient overload has also increase in the hospitals, leading to the generation of biomedical waste of used syringes and other disposables like cotton, tissue and blood samples.
Conclusion: The present article will help the health agencies to analyze the critical factors involved in biomedical waste management in a medical institute and help in devising new strategies to approach the problem of biomedical waste management during pandemics.
Key words: Pandemic, Coronavirus, Biomedical waste, PPE Kits, Face mask