Situation analysis and issues in management of biomedical waste in select small health care facilities in a ward under Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike, Bangalore, India.

Smaller health care facilities especially clinics though believed to generate lesser quantum/categories of medical waste, the number of clinics/small health care settings are considerable. The movement to manage biomedical waste in a safe and scientific manner has gathered momentum among the medium and large hospitals in Bangalore, but there has been a little understanding and focus on the smaller health care facilities/clinics in this aspect. It is important to gather evidence regarding the current situation of bio-medical waste (BMW) management and issues in smaller health care settings, so as to expand the safe management to all points of generation in Bangalore and will also help to plan relevant interventional strategies for the same. Hence an exploratory study was conducted to assess the current situation and issues in management of BMW among small health care facilities (sHCF). This cross sectional study was conducted in T. Dasarahalli (ward number 15) under Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagar Palike (BBMP) of Bangalore. Data was collected from a convenient sample of 35 nursing homes (<50 beds) and clinics in December 2011. The results of this study indicate that 3 (20 %) of nursing homes had a Policy for Health Care Waste Management, though committees for Infection control and Hospital waste management were absent. Recording system like injury and waste management registers were non-existent. In our study the Common Bio-medical Waste Treatment Facility operator collected waste from 28 (80 %) of the sHCF. Segregation at the point of generation was present in 22 (62.9 %) of the sHCF. Segregation process was compliant as per BMW rules 1998 among 5 (16.1 %) of the sHCF. 18 sHCF workers were vaccinated with hepatitis B and tetanus. Deficiencies were observed in areas of containment, sharps management and disinfection. It was observed that though the quantum and category of waste generated was limited there exist deficiencies which warrant initiation of system development measures including capacity building.