Biomedical Waste (BMW) refers to the waste generated during diagnosis, treatment and immunization of people or animals in healthcare institutions. With the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a surge in hazardous biomedical waste, adding to the already heaping pile. The BMW generation has increased manifold owing to the usage of masks, gloves, PPE kits, sample kits, urine bags, and syringes. And untreated and improperly managed BMW is a potential source of infection. In addition, the untreated or rudimentary handling of BMW creates a nuisance and decreases patient satisfaction. Thus, this unscheduled rise in biomedical waste in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic has necessitated its proper management and disposal mechanism to avoid hazardous impact on the environment and people. Biomedical waste is one of the major causes of a wide range of health hazards which should be seriously taken into concern. A wide range of human activities contributes towards biomedical waste management. To reduce the incidence of such illness, the health team members should have adequate knowledge regarding these hazards. Waste management has become a major environmental management crisis in recent years, as the magnitude of waste streams increases and grows in complexity due to consumer based society. Hazardous waste like biomedical waste in particular has been subject to detailed and costly regulations since the early 1980’s, since unregulated toxic wastes were linked with intense health effects in exposed populations at Love Canal, New York and Times Beach, Missouri.
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Annals of Medical and Health Sciences Research received 20588 citations as per google scholar report
The Annals of Medical and Health Sciences Research is a bi-monthly multidisciplinary medical journal.