Health care waste management issues in Bangladesh

Health care sector in Bangladesh has been metamorphosed to service based business sector very recently. Foreign and local entrepreneurs are investing millions of dollars in this sector and the number of health care establishments is growing increasingly but waste management is getting impromptu attention. Only a few percentages of health care establishments do segregation for proper management of hazardous portion. Through there is a health care waste management project running in some part of Dhaka and Khulna cities but wastes are not managed and treated up to the satisfactory level in many cases. The treatment site of the project is likely to have undesirable environmental effect. The stealing of wastes has not been totally stopped from the health care establishments and there is a strong probability of reusing those used items. It is stark clear that the management practice does not seem to improve unless a well synthesized law concerning health care waste management is being enacted. This study aims to explore the present health care waste management issues in Bangladesh with particular attention to Dhaka city with special concentration on the growth pattern of health care establishments, waste generation and waste management practices. And then attempt has been made to provide practical guidelines for potential solutions based upon lessons learned from different case studies and management practices currently being operating in a few areas in Dhaka and Khulna cities. Keyword: Health care waste, hazardous waste, health hazardous, waste management, Bangladesh.