AN INFORMATION SYSTEM FOR HOSPITAL WASTE MANAGEMENT

Hospital and medical wastes are unavoidable outcomes of health care. Since these wastes are classified as more dangerous than ordinary garbage, a successful hospital by-product management demands strict maintenance policies for avoiding diseases spread out and leaching of hazardous chemicals on soil and in ground water. Consequently, effective waste management by hospitals, clinics and health care units reduce risks of infection of their staff, waste collection workers, disposal operators and community and finally it protects the environment. This study deals with the display of an information system for inner hospital waste management and presents an effective handling of wastes, involves behaviour changes, awareness rising and demonstrates good practices from many departments around hospital. Also it improves hospital internal operations of waste management and treatments through the display of dedicated streams for wastes which are recognised and separated at source (segregate collection), illustrates their treatment/handling by dealing with their recycling, reuse, disposal and transportation, influences parts of criteria during planning of waste minimisation programs by involving hospital staff (medical and administrative), makes clearer the economic term waste benefits/recovery, has its focal point on life cycles, assists on waste management decentralisation, minimises environmental impacts and becomes an inextricable part of investment costs based on long-term health goals.