Healthcare Waste Report - Environment Health

The proceeds from the sale of recyclable
wastes and the avoided treatment costs could
be recursively invested in advancing the
overall healthcare waste management system.
Healthcare waste also offers opportunities to
take advantage of, it is a not a threat solely.
Measure, if Not It Cannot Be
Managed
“You Can’t Manage What You Don’t
Measure” is a classical management axiom
and has been repeatedly proved. Healthcare
waste is a critical subject involving costs and
consequences and unless it is measured, is not
possible to ascertain if it is getting better or
worse. Managing for improvement is not
impossible if it is not measured to understand
what is getting better and what isn’t. To
measure something, in general involves three
central aspects:
Measurement – The figure, extent, or
amount obtained by measuring
Metric - A standard of measurement
Benchmark - A standard by which others
may be measured
When talking about measurement, the
questions that strike minds of healthcare waste
stakeholder are what should be measured, why
it should be measured and how. All healthcare
waste after segregation, in a universally
accepted manner, should be measured.
Measurements should be recorded and stored
for easy access to authorized personnel.
Standard procedures, following scientific
methods have to be adopted for measuring and
assumptions and auxiliary adjustments have to
be clearly indicated. For example, when
healthcare waste is measured, some country
governments take into account the bed
occupancy rate while some do not. In some
countries, the overall country level healthcare
waste, not considering segregation, is recorded
and then converted to the specific values based
on the bed count. It is here that metrics come
into picture. Standard practices, reflecting top
down approach of mathematically converting
overall healthcare waste into specific values or
bottom up approach by determining healthcare
waste at hospital level and mathematically
projecting to country data have to be established.
Whatever, be the approach adopted, the metrics
have to be clearly established and explained
through proper documentation.
The next important feature in measurement is
benchmarks, which are often referred to as
industry wide standards, for example x kg/
bed/day. Benchmarks are important in that
they assist in monitoring the amount of waste
that is generated and could help implement
waste minimization programmes at healthcare
facilities. When benchmarks are established,
healthcare facilities willing to cut down on the
waste generation will be able to monitor
themselves and compare their performance
with peer groups within the country, region or
the whole world, of course taking into account
the economic status. Benchmarks may not be
the correct way of comparing waste
generation levels between a developed and
developing country. This has to be taken into
account when using benchmarks.
127 HEALTHCARE WASTE IN ASIA: INTUITIONS & INSIGHTS