Our community is unaware of the basic concepts of biosafety and
biomedical waste management. Biosafety is the containment and safe
handling of hazardous materials and infectious agents while biomedical
waste management includes the proper segregation and disposal of waste
materials generated in health care facilities. Laboratories and hospital
administrations should ensure biosafety and proper biomedical waste
disposal to protect the humans, animals and the environment from the
harmful effects infectious agents. Need for such management practices
has been significantly increased in the face of new drug resistant
bacteria and new strains of viruses. This survey was carried out from
July-December 2020 in order to look into the biosafety and biomedical
waste management practices followed in major and most populous cities of
Pakistan in area bordering Afghanistan i.e. Peshawar, Mardan, Charsaddah
and Nowshehra. During the survey laboratories and hospitals (including
veterinary hospitals) of both public and private sector were selected
and assessed through pre-scheduled and random visits to clearly observe
the situation. It was observed during the surveys that majority of the
laboratories and hospitals were not following the standard Biosafety and
Biomedical Waste Management guidelines, lacking the proper use of
personal protection equipment’s (PPE), spill management, disinfection,
decontamination, waste segregation and disposal. Inadequate biosafety
measure and waste management give rise to a great number health and
environmental problems. Therefore, it is recommended that biosafety and
biomedical waste management concerns should be communicated with all
stakeholders for designing strategies and action plans to cope with this
alarming situation.