[01] Madhia Aslam, Department of Environmental Sciences, PMAS Arid Agriculture University, Rawalpindi, Pakistan. [02] Syed Atif Shaukat, Govternment Boys High School Bangoin Rawalakot, Poonch, Education Department, Azad Jammu & Kashmir, Pakistan. [03] Audil Rashid, Department of Environmental Sciences, PMAS Arid Agriculture University, Rawalpindi, Pakistan. [04] Azeem Khalid, Department of Environmental Sciences, PMAS Arid Agriculture University, Rawalpindi, Pakistan. [05] Syed Kashif Shaukat, Department of Soil & Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture Rawalakot, University of Azad Jammu & Kashmir, Pakistan. [06] Syed Waasif Shoukat, Department of Environmental Sciences, Islamic International University Islamabad, Pakistan.

Hospital waste management is a growing environmental concern in developing countries. Rawalpindi, is among the big cities of Pakistan which has population over four million and generates large quantities of waste. Many efforts have been made by environmental regulatory agencies and waste generators to better managing the wastes from healthcare facilities in recent years. To better manage, characterization and continuous assessment of hospital waste is essential. With this aim a comparative study was carried out in 34 different hospitals of Rawalpindi. The goals of this study were to characterize the solid waste generated in the hospitals, to provide the current status of waste management and to provide the framework for the safe management of waste in the surveyed hospitals. For this purpose a Questionnaire survey was conducted to gather information about waste handling, safety measures and overall awareness among hospital staff. Type of the hospital was significantly associated with various factors such as total number of beds, number of inpatients, outpatients and total waste generation. A predominantly significant correlation (r = 0.67, P<0.001) between rate of waste generation and number of occupied beds was observed in government hospitals. Results of hospital waste characterization show that 25–35% waste comprises of infectious waste in almost 42.5 % of all hospitals. More than 50% hospitals practiced separation of risk and non-risk waste. Incineration was mostly used as hazardous waste disposal option in the surveyed hospitals (97.5%). The study depicted better conditions in government hospitals as compared to private hospitals such as point segregation and use of colored containers for specific waste type(P<0.05). In term of protective clothing and training facilities to waste handlers, government hospitals had better status. It is recommended that for efficient waste management there is need to improve the training of waste handlers and source separation of the waste.

Comparison, Contamination, Environment, Segregation, Incineration, Waste Management

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