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Infectious and Radioactive Waste Management in a Diagnostic and Nuclear Medicine Centre

Received: 11 August 2015     Accepted: 24 August 2015     Published: 14 September 2015
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Abstract

Hospital and medical waste management practices are very unsatisfactory in developing countries especially in Pakistan. Existing techniques and practices are not in accordance with the guidelines and levels prescribed by the WHO (World Health Organization) and other international bodies concerned with environment and human health. The objective of this study was to design and implement a proper waste management plan for the PINUM (Punjab institute of Nuclear Medicine) hospital Faisalabad, Pakistan. At PINUM Hospital infectious waste is produced as a result of diagnostic and radioactive waste as a result of diagnostic and therapeutic activities in nuclear medicine. This study was carried out in a period of 10 months in two phases. In first phase a proper infectious waste management plan was designed and incorporated at hospital and in 2nd phase proper management plan for radioactive waste was designed and implemented. Results showed a 43% reduction in volume and treatment cost of infectious waste resulting from proper management. There was significant decrease in prescribed` storage time of radioactive waste which is done to bring its activity to normal level. It was evident from the results if radioactive waste properly segregated, lose radioactive waste (gloves, swabs, absorbing sheets, tissue papers etc.) can be disposed off much earlier than the compact radioactive waste (radioactive vials, needles and sharps).

Published in American Journal of Environmental Protection (Volume 4, Issue 5)
DOI 10.11648/j.ajep.20150405.15
Page(s) 245-250
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2015. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Hospital, Infectious, Radioactive, Nuclear, Medicine

References
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[4] Sabiha-Javied, M. Tufail, K. Sofia, “Heavy metal pollution from medical waste incineration at Islamabad and Rawalpindi,” J Microchemical. Pakistan, vol. 90, pp. 77-81, 2008.
[5] M. L. Johannessen, M. Dijkman, C. Bartone, D. Hanrahan, M. G. Boyer, C. Chandra, Health Care Waste Management Guidance Note: Health Nutrition and Population (HNP) Discussion, 2000.
[6] C. A. Smith, “Managing Pharmaceutical Waste-what pharmacist should know,” J. Pharm. Soc. Wisconsin, pp. 17-22, 2002.
[7] National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH).Preventing Occupational Exposure to Antineoplastic and other Hazardous Drugs in Healthcare Settings, 2004.
[8] M. Askarian, M. Vakili, G, Kabir, “A total quality management approach to healthcare waste management in Namazi Hospital,” Waste Mangement. Iran, vol. 30(11), pp. 2321-2362, 2010.
[9] J. I. Blenkharn, “Lowering standards of clinical waste management: do the hazardous waste regulations conflict with the CDC's universal/standard precautions?,” J. Hosp. Infect, vol. 62(4), pp. 467- 472, 2006a.
[10] A. Pruss, E. Giroult, P. Rushbrook, “Safe Management of Waste from Health Care Acivities,” World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland, 1999.
[11] A. Abdulla, M. Gomei, D. Hyrenbach, G. Notarbartolo-di-Sciara,” Challenges facing a network of representative marine protected areas in the Mediterranean: prioritizing protection of underrepresented habitat,” ICES Journal of Marine Science, vol. 66, pp. 22-28, 2008.
[12] Ministry of environment Pakistan, "Hospital waste management rule,” The Gazette of Pakistan, Ministry of environment notification, 2005.
[13] P. Klangsin, A. K. Harding,” Medical waste treatment and disposal methods used by hospitals in Oregon, Washington and Idaho,” J Air Waste Manag Assoc, vol.48, pp.516-26, 1998.
[14] Y. A. Levendis, A. Atal, J. Carlson,” PAH and soot emissions from combustion of coal and waste tires in fixed beds,” Comb. Sci. Technol, vol. 134, pp. 407-431, 1998.
[15] Operational limits,” Training workshop on Radiation Safety in Nuclear Medicine and RSO Certification Examination,” Murthy BKS, BARC. Mumbai, pp. 6.1–6.6, 2000.
[16] WHO, 2000.In: Rushbrook, P., Chandra, C., Gayton, S., (Eds.), starting health-care waste management in medical institutions. Health-care waste practical information series, No. 1. WHO regional office for Europe, European centre for environment and health, Copenhagen. Samajh ni lagi.
[17] M. C. Agramunt, A. Domingo, J. L. Domingo, J. Corbella, “Monitoring internal exposure to metals and organic substances in workers at a hazardous waste incinerator after 3 years of operation,” Toxicology letters, vol.146, pp.83-91, 2003.
[18] M. Tsakona, E. Anagnostopoulou, E. Gidarakos, “Hospital waste management and toxicity evaluation: A case study,” Waste management, vol. 27(7), pp. 912-920, 2007.
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Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Tauqir Nasir, Shafaqat Ali, Mujahid Farid, Muhammad Shahbaz, Muhammad Rizwan, et al. (2015). Infectious and Radioactive Waste Management in a Diagnostic and Nuclear Medicine Centre. American Journal of Environmental Protection, 4(5), 245-250. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajep.20150405.15

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    ACS Style

    Tauqir Nasir; Shafaqat Ali; Mujahid Farid; Muhammad Shahbaz; Muhammad Rizwan, et al. Infectious and Radioactive Waste Management in a Diagnostic and Nuclear Medicine Centre. Am. J. Environ. Prot. 2015, 4(5), 245-250. doi: 10.11648/j.ajep.20150405.15

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    AMA Style

    Tauqir Nasir, Shafaqat Ali, Mujahid Farid, Muhammad Shahbaz, Muhammad Rizwan, et al. Infectious and Radioactive Waste Management in a Diagnostic and Nuclear Medicine Centre. Am J Environ Prot. 2015;4(5):245-250. doi: 10.11648/j.ajep.20150405.15

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ajep.20150405.15,
      author = {Tauqir Nasir and Shafaqat Ali and Mujahid Farid and Muhammad Shahbaz and Muhammad Rizwan and Fakhir Hannan and Rehan Ahmad},
      title = {Infectious and Radioactive Waste Management in a Diagnostic and Nuclear Medicine Centre},
      journal = {American Journal of Environmental Protection},
      volume = {4},
      number = {5},
      pages = {245-250},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ajep.20150405.15},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajep.20150405.15},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajep.20150405.15},
      abstract = {Hospital and medical waste management practices are very unsatisfactory in developing countries especially in Pakistan. Existing techniques and practices are not in accordance with the guidelines and levels prescribed by the WHO (World Health Organization) and other international bodies concerned with environment and human health. The objective of this study was to design and implement a proper waste management plan for the PINUM (Punjab institute of Nuclear Medicine) hospital Faisalabad, Pakistan. At PINUM Hospital infectious waste is produced as a result of diagnostic and radioactive waste as a result of diagnostic and therapeutic activities in nuclear medicine. This study was carried out in a period of 10 months in two phases. In first phase a proper infectious waste management plan was designed and incorporated at hospital and in 2nd phase proper management plan for radioactive waste was designed and implemented. Results showed a 43% reduction in volume and treatment cost of infectious waste resulting from proper management. There was significant decrease in prescribed` storage time of radioactive waste which is done to bring its activity to normal level. It was evident from the results if radioactive waste properly segregated, lose radioactive waste (gloves, swabs, absorbing sheets, tissue papers etc.) can be disposed off much earlier than the compact radioactive waste (radioactive vials, needles and sharps).},
     year = {2015}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Infectious and Radioactive Waste Management in a Diagnostic and Nuclear Medicine Centre
    AU  - Tauqir Nasir
    AU  - Shafaqat Ali
    AU  - Mujahid Farid
    AU  - Muhammad Shahbaz
    AU  - Muhammad Rizwan
    AU  - Fakhir Hannan
    AU  - Rehan Ahmad
    Y1  - 2015/09/14
    PY  - 2015
    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajep.20150405.15
    DO  - 10.11648/j.ajep.20150405.15
    T2  - American Journal of Environmental Protection
    JF  - American Journal of Environmental Protection
    JO  - American Journal of Environmental Protection
    SP  - 245
    EP  - 250
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2328-5699
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajep.20150405.15
    AB  - Hospital and medical waste management practices are very unsatisfactory in developing countries especially in Pakistan. Existing techniques and practices are not in accordance with the guidelines and levels prescribed by the WHO (World Health Organization) and other international bodies concerned with environment and human health. The objective of this study was to design and implement a proper waste management plan for the PINUM (Punjab institute of Nuclear Medicine) hospital Faisalabad, Pakistan. At PINUM Hospital infectious waste is produced as a result of diagnostic and radioactive waste as a result of diagnostic and therapeutic activities in nuclear medicine. This study was carried out in a period of 10 months in two phases. In first phase a proper infectious waste management plan was designed and incorporated at hospital and in 2nd phase proper management plan for radioactive waste was designed and implemented. Results showed a 43% reduction in volume and treatment cost of infectious waste resulting from proper management. There was significant decrease in prescribed` storage time of radioactive waste which is done to bring its activity to normal level. It was evident from the results if radioactive waste properly segregated, lose radioactive waste (gloves, swabs, absorbing sheets, tissue papers etc.) can be disposed off much earlier than the compact radioactive waste (radioactive vials, needles and sharps).
    VL  - 4
    IS  - 5
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Government College University, Faisalabad, Pakistan

  • Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Government College University, Faisalabad, Pakistan

  • Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Gujrat, Hafiz Hayat Campus, Gujrat, Pakistan

  • Punjab Institute of Nuclear Medicine (PINUM) Hospital, Faisalabad, Pakistan

  • Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Government College University, Faisalabad, Pakistan

  • Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Government College University, Faisalabad, Pakistan

  • Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Government College University, Faisalabad, Pakistan

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