Current Methods and Challenges of Managing Clinical Solid Waste at Juba Teaching Hospital, South Sudan

Abstract

The amount of clinical solid waste generated at Juba Teaching Hospital has been increasing as a result of the increasing population of Juba city. Despite the increase in the amounts of clinical solid waste, few scientific studies were conducted and the studies focused only on municipal solid waste management and have not explored clinical solid waste management in Juba City. A survey study aimed to explore the current methods and challenges of clinical solid waste management (CSWM) at Juba Teaching Hospital was conducted. The data was obtained through questionnaires, observation and oral interview. Word-excel-2013 and Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) IBM – 2021 version were used to process the data. The results revealed inappropriate methods of clinical solid waste management practices such as irregular collection, mixing different types of solid wastes together, use of water bottles instead of safety boxes for segregation of sharps, manual transportation of solid wastes, unprotected storage site, irregular incineration, open burning and random dumping. Reasons such as insufficient equipment, negligence of hospital administrators and few numbers of waste collectors was attributed to the inappropriate management of clinical solid waste in the hospital. The study recommended adoption of recycling strategies, employment of more waste handlers, commensurate remuneration and motivation, provision of enough equipment, creation of staff awareness and capacity development on health implications of poor clinical solid waste management.