Tabari Biomedical Student Research Journal

Background & Objectives: A large portion of medical wastes is dangerous, which
is hazardous to the health of human beings, animals, plants, and environment. Considering
the importance of this issue, this study aimed to evaluate the collection and
disposal of medical waste in teaching hospitals of Sari, Mazandaran, Iran.
Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional, descriptive study, a questionnaire
including 122 items was distributed in four teaching hospitals during June-July
2013. The validity of this questionnaire was confirmed by faculty members, and its
reliability was calculated to be 0.795. The results were analyzed using SPSS version
17 and Microsoft Excel.
Results: The rate of medical waste generation in these hospitals was estimated
at 2.19 kg/bed, 57%, 36%, and 3.6% of which were domestic wastes, infectious
wastes, and sharp objects, respectively. Since medical waste is disposed out of the
cities, municipality was responsible for transportation and disposal of waste out of
the hospitals, except for one. Only Zare Hospital had incinerator, and BuAli and
Imam Khomeini Hospials used Hydroclave (waste disposal device) and autoclave
for disinfecting the infectious waste.
Conclusion: The execution of the decree of Ministery of Health in relation to medical
waste management is done monthly, and on the whole, proper equipments and
facilities were used for waste collection.