Healthcare waste disposal strategy selection using grey-AHP approach

Abstract

Purpose Nowadays healthcare waste (HCW) has become a big challenge for the hospital management, especially, in developing countries like India. Like other developing countries, Indian healthcare waste disposal (HCWD) industry is also fragmented, as some hospitals are having their own in-house waste treatment facilities and others are outsourcing the process to government authorized Common Biomedical Waste Treatment Facilities. Literature also lacks the quantitative studies in selecting the HCWD strategy and, hence, the purpose of this paper is to identify and prioritize the factors, which affect the selection of HCWD strategy and to propose the model to select the HCWD strategy and to apply the proposed model to select the HCWD strategy in Uttarakhand, Northern State of India. Design/methodology/approach Grey theory-based analytic hierarchy process approach has been applied to evaluate the HCWD options and select the appropriate strategy for the healthcare facilities (HCFs). Findings From the literature, six criteria have been used to evaluate the HCWD strategies: “access to expertise,” “overdependence,” “transportation & risk associated,” “Government rules,” “environmental factors,” and “economic factors.” “Outsourcing” strategic option (0.61) got the higher desirability index than “in-house treatment” (0.39). Research limitations/implications The proposed methodology can be used by the researchers and experts in the field to evaluate the strategic options and select the appropriate strategy. Practical implications The HCFs and other generators of HCW can select the alternative, whether they should treat the infectious waste in-house or they should go for outsourcing. Originality/value In the field of HCW management, this is the first study of its kind, which helps to evaluate and select the HCWD strategies. The proposed model has been applied in Uttarakhand, Northern State of India to make the comparison between “in-house” and “outsource” strategies.

A healthcare logistic network considering stochastic emission of contamination: Bi-objective model and solution algorithm

“…The researchers developed a multi-start heuristic to solve the model. A grey-AHP approach has been proposed by Thakur and Ramesh (2017) for selecting a healthcare waste disposal strategy in Uttarakhand, Northern State of India. An optimization model has been proposed by Mantzaras and Voudrias (2017) for collection, transportation, treatment, and disposal of healthcare wastes.…”

Selection of the best healthcare waste disposal techniques during and post COVID-19 pandemic era

“…This may be due to the presence of wide range of hazardous materials such as used needles and syringes, personal protective equipment (PPE), soiled dressings, heavy metals, body parts, pathogens, diagnostic samples, blood, toxic chemicals, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and radioactive materials in these HCWs. ( Thakur and Ramesh, 2017 ; Yu et al, 2020 ). The outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic may cause substantial commination to mankind and other creatures like birds, animals, and reptiles and lead to a worldwide crisis because of the highly contagious nature of the disease.…”

“…In the developing countries like India, bad HCW treatment procedures and improper waste dumping techniques are often employed ( Thakur and Ramesh, 2017 ). This poor HCW treatment practices and inappropriate waste disposal methods or techniques causes substantial health threats and ecological contamination due to the contagious nature of the HCW ( Minoglou et al, 2017 ).…”

“…This poor HCW treatment practices and inappropriate waste disposal methods or techniques causes substantial health threats and ecological contamination due to the contagious nature of the HCW ( Minoglou et al, 2017 ). With a population of approximately 1.3 billion and recent tremendous growth in the medical facilities, the HCW management issue needs to be addressed in a serious manner ( Thakur and Ramesh, 2017 ). As per Indian Society of Hospital Waste Management (ISHWM) reports, it is anticipated that at least 1-2 kg of HCW is generated per bed per day in a hospital and at least 600 grams per bed per day is generated in a general practitioner's clinic.…”

“…It is also estimated that at least 5-10% of this comprises of hazardous/infectious waste. Considering the large number of patients in the country, the daily generation of HCW forms a huge number, which needs to be managed in a proper manner ( Thakur and Ramesh, 2017 ). This induces the need of proper HCW management systems to treat and dispose the hazardous and infectious wastes in an effective manner.…”