A Mathematical Model for Scheduling and Assignment of Customers in Hospital Waste Collection Routes

The collection, transport, and final disposal of hospital waste may cause contamination and disease if improperly handled. Therefore, such residues are hazardous to the health of waste collectors. These wastes are generated by public agencies, such as hospitals, family health centers, dialysis centers, and private healthcare providers. In this study, a mixed-integer linear programming model is proposed for monthly customer scheduling and route assignment. The proposed approach was fulfilled according to customers’ collection frequency, truck capacity, and customer geographical location. The proposed mathematical model successfully balanced the number of customers and the workload during each day. The effectiveness of the proposed model was tested on data obtained from a waste collection company. The model has been implemented in AMPL language, and the performance of commercial solvers, GUROBI and CPLEX, to obtain an optimal solution were tested. The results show the efficiency of the proposed approach to balance the workload concerning previous scheduling is done ad hoc at the company. The use of the formulated model provides an automatic procedure that was previously performed manually. The methodology can be adapted to other companies with similar requirements.

Risk of Covid-19 Transmission due to Domestic Biomedical Waste – A Review

Biomedical waste is said to be a type of waste generated during treatment or diagnosis. Apart from hospitals, clinics, and laboratories it is generated domestically as well. Amount of Biomedical waste in household has increased significantly in the past year due to Covid-19 pandemic, People were effectively educated regarding usage of masks, face covers, PPEs and sanitizers, but were not acknowledged regarding waste generated and disposal methods due to usage of such disposable items in ample quantity. Awareness should be spread across regarding Covid-19 related medical waste generation and its ways of disposal. Waste which is contaminated with Covid-19 virus has certain hours on surface stability of it, due to which risk of contamination increases. Therefore, one must be always aware regarding advantages and disadvantages of the items they use, consume or throw away. Keywords: Biomedical Waste, Hospital Waste, Covid-19, domestic Biomedical waste, Municipal Waste

Electricity Generation from Hospital Wastewater in Microbial Fuel Cell using Radiation Tolerant Bacteria

Hospital waste is a type of hazardous waste that contains a wide range of dangerous substances, including radioactive materials. Radiation-tolerant microbes have shown an interest in treating this liquid waste. Radiation-resistant microorganisms were chosen from irradiated fermented sausage in this investigation. The activity of enzymes such as protease, lipase, and laccase was studied. For hospital wastewater treatment, a single chamber microbial fuel cell (sMFC) with a radiation-tolerant bacterial consortium was deployed. The microbial structure analysis showed the selected consortium was similar to Acinetobacter sp. The COD was removed at a rate of 90.10±0.30%, and the power density (PD) was 168.91±3.89 mW/m2. This was the first study to use the radiation-resistant Acinetobacter sp. bacterial consortia to treat hospital waste and generate power simultaneously.

Molecular Screening of bla-TEM-68 Gene for TEM-68 ESBLs Resistant K. pneumoniae and C. freundii from Hospital Waste in Adamawa state Specialist Hospital, Yola

Resistant strains of K. pneumoniae and C. freundii due to under use and over use of antibiotics and biocides has contributed to economic burden due to nosocomial infections. This study focuses on screening hospital wastes for antibacterial and biocide resistant K. pneumoniae and C. freundii in Adamawa state specialist hospital, Yola. One hundred and twenty (120) hospital wastes samples were analysed. Samples were cultured on appropriate media and incubated at 37 oC for 24h. Biochemically identified isolates were molecularly confirmed and sequenced. K. pneumoniae being 93% identical to strain KPNIH48 and C. freundii being 99% identical to complex sp CFNH4 were confirmed. Resistant K. pneumonia and C. freundii were subjected to phenotypic ESBLs test, then DDS test was carried out to confirm ESBLs production. Phenotypically ESBLs positive K. pneumoniae were positive for DDST but negative for C. freundii. The DDST positive isolates were then screened for bla-TEM-68 gene. All the DDST positive K. pneumoniae harboured the bla-TEM-68 gene but none in C. freundii. The isolates carrying bla-TEM-68 gene were cured using 10 % SDS and the results showed that the ESBLs genes were plasmid and/or chromosomally encoded. The presence of K. pneumoniae carrying bla-TEM-68 gene indicates a possibility for increased nosocomial infections in Adamawa state and Nigeria at large and so relevant preventive recommendations were made.

WHY HOSPITAL WASTE MANAGEMENT IS IMPORTANT TO THE ENVIRONMENT?: A SYSTEMATIC LITERATURE REVIEW

Today, the healthcare industry has grown in importance as the number of hospitals has increased in response to the increased number of patients. This signifies that the world will be facing a more critical environment as a result of waste generation by hospitals. However, there are still insufficient studies that systematically review the existing literature on hospital waste management. Thus, this systematic literature review focuses on hospital waste management and its environmental impact. The results from Google Scholar and Science Direct show 80 articles starting from 2015 to 2020. Only 12 articles fulfil the criteria for further analysis. Most studies indicated the presence of hospital waste procedures such as waste segregation, a lack of awareness among clinical staff, poor facilities and government enforcement. The study contributes to the body of knowledge and the industry. This study explains the importance and environmental impact of hospital waste management. A recommendation for future research is provided.

HOSPITAL WASTE MANAGEMENT PRACTICES: EXPLANATION FROM MEDICAL PERSONNEL

Today, the healthcare industry has become more important with the increasing number of hospitals due to the rise of patients. This signifies the world is facing more critical issues towards hospital waste due to its impact on the environment. The increase of waste generation from the hospital is not only to the environment but to an organisation such as cost of disposal. Current research fails to provide a manager behaviour view on the solution to reduce waste from their organization. Thus, this study explores the current hospital waste practices at the hospital, to examine depth understanding of recycling factor behaviour among medical personnel and the impacts from recycling hospital waste. This study used the semi-structured interview with hospital managers to address The result shows, respondents are willing to recycle hospital waste with factors such as government support, top management involvement through providing training, awareness, knowledge, facilities and incentives. This study will contribute to both bodies of knowledge and practice among hospital managers.

A robust fuzzy multi-objective programming model to design a sustainable hospital waste management network considering resiliency and uncertainty: A case study

With the increase in the number of patients and activity of hospitals, the issue of hospital waste management (HWM) is becoming more and more challenging and worrying. In addition to financial losses, there will be irreparable damage to the ecosystem and environment which will create many problems for people (because the job of some people in the area is livestock and agriculture and they have a lot to do with their surroundings). It also doubles the need to pay attention to the issue of sustainable development (simultaneous attention to social, economic and environmental dimensions) in waste management. Moreover, the climatic and geographical conditions and lack of proper waste management in this area lead to major problems. Therefore, in this research, by developing a novel multi-objective mixed integer linear programming model, HWM is addressed in the hospitals of Sari, Iran. The aim is to design an HWM network considering sustainability, resiliency and uncertainty. In order to deal with uncertainty, a robust fuzzy programming approach is employed, and then an improved goal programming technique and Lp-metric method is proposed to solve the model. It was revealed that goal programming outperforms the Lp-metric method in terms of all objectives. Furthermore, the obtained results demonstrate the applicability and efficiency of the proposed methodology to design an efficient sustainable HWM network.

Prevalence of Multidrug-Resistant Bacteria Isolates in Waste Water from Different Hospital Environment in Umuahia, Nigeria

The discharge of untreated hospital waste water into the environment is a major public health concern as this could result in the environmental spread of multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacteria. The dissemination of such MDR bacteria in waste water remains unexamined in most geographical area. This study assessed the prevalence of multidrug-resistant bacterial isolates in waste water from hospital environment in Umuahia, Nigeria. Exactly 200 waste water samples were collected from various diagnostic laboratory units of Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike (MOUAU) Health Centers and Federal Medical Center (FMC), Umuahia in 250 ml screw-capped, heat-sterilized bottles. Water samples were analyzed using standard microbiological techniques. Bacterial isolates from water samples were identified with API-20E test kit. Antibiotic susceptibility test was done using Kirby–Bauer disc diffusion method. Multiple antibiotic resistance index (MARI) of isolated bacteria was determined using standard formulae. A total of 147(73.5 %) bacterial species such as S. aureus, Shigella spp, E. coli, Enterobacter spp, Proteus mirabilis, and Arizona spp were identified from the waste water samples. Bacterial isolates exhibited resistance to tetracycline, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, clindamycin, nalixidic acid, vancomycin, and chloramphenicol but very susceptible to imipenem. All isolates were multidrug-resistant with MARI values ranging from 0.5 - 0.8. This study revealed the presence of MDR bacteria in hospital waste water samples in Umuahia, Abia state, Nigeria. The threat and risk of exposure to such MDR bacteria is of public health significance and raises concern over poor management and disposal of hospital waste water or effluents.