A safe way to manage medical waste

Biomedical waste management systems will be established at Bangladesh hospitals to manage medical waste properly. Initially, a system will be set up in a hospital on pilot basis, which will act as a model for other hospitals.

The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) in collaboration with Bangladesh government, with financial support from Norwegian government, will initiate the project. UNIDO will start baseline survey in October to set up the treatment plant.

UNIDO representative, high officials of the government and ambassador of Norway to Bangladesh talked about this initiative in a webinar titled "Biomedical Waste Management in Bangladesh: Keeping People and Environment Safe" on Wednesday.

Norwegian ambassador Espen Rikter-Svendsen said, "According to media reports, at least 14,500 tonnes of medical wastes were generated in April, 2020, which was the first month of Covid-19 pandemic in Bangladesh."

"There is no doubt that the situation now is much worse than that… treating such huge amount of waste is a major challenge for Bangladesh, and Norway is very happy to assist Bangladesh government to mitigate this challenge."

According to SMGB Arafat, UNIDO national expert on biomedical waste management, the organisation will set up the system in a hospital that has at least 200 beds, to monitor its efficacy precisely. "…we are coordinating with the DGHS and DoE to implement the project," he said.

Shamim Al Razi, additional secretary, Ministry of Forests, Environment and Climate Change; Zaki Uz Zaman, country representative of UNIDO Bangladesh office; and Md Farid Hossain Miah, director (hospitals) of DGHS, also spoke at the event.