Potentially infectious wastes are generated during various activities in hospitals as well as in clinics and other health care establishments.

Presently much of the waste from such facilities except from large scale hospitals find its way into the municipal waste stream.

As the workers handling these wastes are often illiterate, they do not understand the written instructions and often do not take the required precautions.

Realizing the gravity of the problem, Ministry of Environment and Forests have recently laid down the Biomedical Waste Rules 1998 which are quite comprehensive and need to be followed.

The health care waste has to be treated for its conversion to non-hazardous residue, to contain waste, to avoid human exposure and to contain the residue to avoid its dispersion into the environment.

The Biomedical waste rules clearly lay down the treatment & disposal options for different types of waste and it can be seen that at any hospital a combination of methods will have to be used.

The selection of treatment method depends upon the prevailing regulations, the quantities to be disposed of, availability of qualified personnel & technologies and the space available.

The treatment options are:

Incineration

Chemical disinfection

Autoclaving

Hydroclaving

Encapsulation

Microwave treatment.

Such waste which cannot be treated by any of the above methods is normally disposed of in secured land filling by following the standard procedures.

Radioactive waste should be sent back to Atomic Energy Authority.

Pressurized containers should be sent back to the supplier or to approved recycling centers and should never be burnt