Knowledge, attitude, and practices of Bio-medical Waste Management rules, 2016; Bio-medical Waste Management (amendment) rules, 2018; and Solid Waste Rules, 2016, among health-care workers in a tertiary care setup

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Biomedical waste poses physical, chemical, radiological, and microbiological risks to the public and health-care workers (HCWs) for current and future generations. AIM: The aim was to gauge the depth of understanding amongst HCWs on biomedical waste management (BMWM). MATERIALS AND METHODS: A predesigned questionnaire on knowledge, attitude, and practices on BMWM Rules, 2016 (Principle), and 2018 (Amendment), Solid Waste Rules, 2016, and health hazards in HCW was distributed to all participants. RESULTS: Only 68% of the participants knew that the most important step in waste management is waste segregation. Eighty-two percent of the HCWs working in this setup knew of the different color-coded bins used for segregation. However, awareness was lacking with respect to health hazards associated with improperly segregated and disposed off biomedical waste as only 49% answered the questions on the hazards of waste correctly. Laboratory waste handling was found to be the least understood area of the newer guidelines. CONCLUSIONS: Training aspects of health-care waste management should be strengthened so that the current, existing, and future regulations are practiced diligently and uniformly. Periodic evaluation and assessment should become routine to enforce adherence to waste management.