System analysis of biomedical waste management across health care clinics of Udupi taluk

Background: Improper Biomedical Waste (BMW) management by healthcare facilities can pose severe hazardous effects on the larger population, the environment, and its resources. Due to resurgence in number of clinics in urban areas, there is need to understand the practices and compliance to BMW management. It can be understood by studying and observing their practices and processes of BMW management and understanding the knowledge, attitude, and practice among the staff in the clinics. Aim: The objective of the study was to analyze the BMW management process across the healthcare clinics in Udupi taluk. Methods: A cross-sectional, observational study was conducted using self-administered questionnaires and checklists across 15 clinics in Udupi taluk. The sample size is 130 out of which Doctors, Nurses, housekeeping staff and descriptive Statistics were reported. Results: Of the 15 clinics only eight of them had basic requirements of BMW management; lack of trained workforce, non-compliance to segregation of waste, and non-compliance to collection and storage of waste are seen among majority of the clinics. Other findings during our study are 73.3% had inadequate transportation facility, while only 13.3% had adequate storage space. Doctors and nurses had 100% knowledge and positive attitude, environmental health workforce (housekeeping staff) had poor knowledge and attitude.