Medical waste management in health facilities in Kumasi Metropolis, Ghana

Abstract

There is a growing concern on how medical wastes are handled in developing countries like Ghana due to their potential source of risks to human health and the environment. A descriptive cross - sectional study was used to assess the current management practices of medical waste at six health facilities in the Kumasi Metropolis. Checklist, observation and questionnaire were used to collect data from the health facilities and 400 healthcare workers. The data was analyzed using the SPSS, version 25. Chi-Square test was used to determine the association between the variables and level of significance was set at p ≤ 0.05. The results of the study showed that temporary storage holding time for the medical waste was between 12-24hrs and manually transferred to treatment sites in all facilities, except KATH, which used tricycle. Incineration was mostly (66.7 %) used to managed solid medical waste with uncontrolled smokes which could pose threat to the environment. Liquid wastes from some wards were drained into septic tanks while others into the municipal sewage system. Most (74.4 %) healthcare workers had adequate knowledge on medical waste management, although segregation at the point of generation was nearly absent, this was significantly associated with age, profession and years of experience (P-values 0.000; 0.032). There was policy gap on enforcement of medical waste management at the health facilities. The medical waste posed a serious health risk to the health workers, waste collectors and the people in the surrounding communities. Generally, the medical waste management was below the required WHO guidelines. The study recommends sufficient training, effective supervision and resource allocation for waste management.