Medical waste management at health-care centers, clinics, and laboratories of Mahmoud Abad, Mazandaran

Background and Objective: Clinics, laboratories and health care centers are considered as one of the main waste generating sources in solid waste management. The problems associated with the generated health-care waste in clinics, laboratories and health care centers have been rarely investigated in Iran. Therefore, the present study was developed to investigate the status of health care waste in clinics, laboratories and health care centers of Mahmoudabad, Mazandaran in 2017. Methods and Materials: This cross-sectional study was conducted to determine the status of solid waste management in 117 medical centers in Mahmoudabad, Mazandaran, 2017. The solid waste data in terms of waste generation rate, storage, collection, and disposal were surveyed through interview and questionnaire that were validated by Iran’s ministry of health. Results: The average health-care waste generation in medical centers in Mahmoudabad was found to be 248 g/day. The mean and standard deviation for environmental health criteria in all medical centers were 248.3 and 41.1, respectively. In addition, there was a statistically significant difference between the amount of waste generation in private and governmental medical centers (p=0.111). Conclusion: The results obtained from the present research indicated that the medical waste management in Mahmoudabad, particularly in private centers, face serious problems. Improper waste collection technology, mixing municipal and medical waste, requirement for training the personnel in medical waste management and surveillance can be considered as important concerns in health-care waste management in Mahmoudabad.