MANAGEMENT OF MEDICAL AND DENTAL WASTE

Medical waste is waste generated in medical and health institutions and poses a risk to those who created, packaged, stored, transported, treated and performed the disposition. The management of medical waste is an organized process that consists of five elements: separation; identification; handling; treatment and disposition. Clinical waste is defined as 'any waste which consists wholly or partly of human or animal tissue, blood or other body fluids, excretions, drugs or other pharmaceutical products, swabs or dressings, syringes, needles or other sharp instruments'. This type of waste may prove hazardous to any person coming into contact with it unless it is rendered safe. Waste is defined as 'hazardous' when the waste itself or the material or substances it contains are harmful to humans or the environment. The other main waste stream is known as offensive waste, which primarily contains waste that is considered unpleasant due to its appearance and smell, for instance incontinence waste. Management of whole medical waste requires strict control and monitoring from the spot of occurrence, until its final storage. Each health institution should tend to reduce the amount of medical waste, meaning to organize and control the generating of the bio-hazardous waste as well as to organize and control the action of collection, transportation and destruction of the waste.