Manejo De Residuos Sólidos Hospitalarios En La Unidad Oncológica Solca-Chimborazo

Abstract

It was determined that the handling of the solid waste generated by the SOLCA – Chimborazo cancer hospital was not appropriate, both internally and externally. Because of that, the classification, transport, storage, deactivation, and intermediate disposition are inconvenient. Thus, it was realized that it is important to have the requirements and documents to follow and comply the objectives that are specified within the management, focusing on feedback and continuous improvement. To learn about the nature of the generated residuals, they were characterized in the hospital. Common, infectious, radioactive, organic and sharp residuals were found during the months of September, November and December. The common waste is comprised of cardboard, paper and plastic. The per-capita production of residuals was 0.76 kg/patient/day. The environmental impact caused by the generation of hospital solid waste was 56% severe impacts and 44% moderate impacts, which could elicit health problems in the population surrounding the hospital. For this reason, the appropriate management of solid waste allowed to obtain large environmental benefits and reduce the pollution generated by the hospital solid waste. It is recommended to SOLCA-Chimborazo and other health institutions the implementation of an adequate solid waste management, which will allow them to comply with all the requirements enforced by the environmental regulations.