Abstract:
Background: Biomedical waste is a type of hazardous waste that is produced during the diagnosis,
treatment, or immunization of humans. As a result, it requires special attention and management before
disposal. Most developing countries, including Ethiopia, have no effective health care waste management
practices. There is a lack of research that has gone into greater detail about the main cause of the high
proportion of hazardous waste generation in comparison to general waste, as well as the average waste
generation per patient flow in the studied health facility.
Objective: The purpose of this study was to assess the biomedical solid waste generation rate and its
management practice at Bako Primary Hospital, Bako town, western Oromia, Ethiopia.
Methods: Facility-based cross-sectional study design for quantitative and case study qualitative was used
to assess the biomedical solid waste generation rate and management practice in Bako primary hospital
from July 12-18/2021.The study was conducted to manage data quality, training, pre-testing, and
weighting scale calibration were used. A calibrated weight balance was used to calculate the amount of
biomedical solid waste generated. The current practice of biomedical solid waste management was
evaluated using an observational checklist and a semi-structured interview guide. The correlation between
the total number of patients and the total amount of biomedical waste generated was assessed using
Spearman's rank correlation coefficient (r). The collected data was organized and entered into Epi data
version 3.1 and it was cleaned to eliminate missing values, outliers, and other inconsistencies. Data was
cleaned before being exported to SPSS version 26for analysis and a one-way ANOVA test was performed.
Questionaries’ was translated to local language Afan Oromo, then back to English to keep its consistency.
Result: The average daily generation rate of biomedical waste was determined to be 0.69kg/bed/day and/
or 0.381kg/patient/day. At the point of generation, there was no segregation of biomedical waste by type.
Substandard open plastic bins were used to collect and transport mixed biomedical solid waste.
Conclusion: The average biomedical waste generation rate in Bako primary hospital was (0.69kg/bed/day
and/or 0.381kg/patient/day)were above the threshold value of the hazardous biomedical solid waste
generation rate in low-income countries, was by reported by WHO, and its management was
underprivileged. There was lack of appropriate biomedical waste segregation with different waste
categories at point of generation and inadequate waste collection equipment’s in most of all in different
departments. There is an urgent need to establish standard biomedical solid waste management at all.
