Study of Hospital Waste Management in Hospitals of Kerman University of Medical Sciences during the Years 2012- 2013

Hospital wastes have high sensitivity due to their hazardous, toxic, and pathogenic agent's contents; therefore, proper management of them plays an important role in the control of environmental pollution and occurrence of hospital infections. In this study, medical waste management in all affiliated hospitals of Kerman University of Medical Sciences was investigated with the purpose of providing proper information for comprehensive and proper planning and enhancing quality of health services in future. This research was a cross-sectional descriptive study the data of which were collected about production, segregation, storage, collection, treating, transportation, and disposal by completing the questionnaire, raw tables, interviews, observation, and visiting in 2012-2013. The total numbers of beds in the studied hospitals are 1512, 1269 of which are active beds. The bed occupancy percentage of the studied hospitals was measured 83.92 %. Also, the average rate of total generated waste was calculated 6.06 kg/bed/day. The mean rate of infectious, medicinal and chemical waste, general waste, and sharp waste were calculated 2.65, 3.35, and 0.08 kg/bed/day, respectively. Our results showed that about 43% of the generated waste was infectious, medicinal, and chemical. Finally, medical waste management in affiliated hospitals of Kerman University of Medical Sciences was in good condition, but it needs more attention in some cases.