| dc.description.abstract | Medical Waste (MW) includes all of the waste that is generated by healthcare establishments, research facilities and laboratories. It negatively impacts both human health and the environment, when improperly managed. This thesis analyses the current Medical Waste Management (MWM) policy at a general hospital, four Rural Hospitals and Health Centres and eight Rural District Clinics in St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG), using a face-to-face interview. Its objectives are to understand the perception and attitude of staff and the general public towards MWM and employ a questionnaire survey and a self-completed questionnaire survey within its methodology, respectively. It seeks to explore their acceptance of the best treatment and disposal method and conducts a Multi-criteria Analysis (MCA) on the best selected treatment and disposal method for MWM.
The face-to-face interview process was administered to the heads of healthcare facilities and to waste managers employed at these facilities. The results show that segregation practices at selected facilities, involve the use colour coded plastic bags system and sharps boxes. Pathological and Anatomical waste are buried in a deep burial pit or at close by cemeteries. And the infectious wastes after autoclaving, accompanied with non-infectious wastes are disposed of along with municipal solid waste at centralised Sanitary Landfills (SL’s). At the general hospital, a sanitary sewer is also used to discard laboratory free-flowing waste.
Employees’ levels of concern towards MWM showed that 46% of the female respondents, 42% staff members and 100% doctors and heads of facilities had high concerns about MWM than other participants. The reason is that, most of the respondents are nurses. Doctors and nurses are more likely to be infected by viruses through direct contact with MW. The results also show that the younger generation despite educational levels, are aware of environmental issues and are concern about MWM. Persons with a higher level of education on the other hand, illustrate that they have a greater awareness of the health and environmental issues associated with MWM.
The majority of the general public mentioned that their high levels of concern towards MWM are the fact that, they desire to gain knowledge about how to protect them when visiting healthcare facilities and how improper management of MW would affect the environment in which they live. The perception and attitude of the general public play an important role in determining public responses to MW, their demands for political change and increased attention to risk management institutions.
In the exploration of the best treatment and disposal method for MW, participants preference of incineration illustrate 30% are from the general public and 42% are employees at healthcare facilities. Although both the general public and employees accepted incineration, the results of the MCA illustrate that Autoclave is the best method for MWM in SVG. Currently at Sanitary Landfills in SVG, Leachate Ponds are used to collect discharged leachate, which is normally allowed to evaporate and or slowly percolate into the ground. A sensitivity analysis was conducted on improving leachate management by installing surface aerators into already existing naturally aerobic ponds. The results show that capital investment and annual energy savings are the most sensitive parameters. | en_US |