Ground Level Challenges in BMW management at district levels

Abstract

BMWM includes solid and liquid biological, chemical waste. Management of BMWM in district headquarters
or at smaller towns is much different and has rather different challenges, unlike cities where the hospitals
and health care centres have trained staff. The awareness among the management and workers from top
to bottom is different. The personnel involved and the kind of set up, the availability of skilled labour, the
awareness among hospital managers and supervisors, the skill of labour working to collect, segregate,
transporting the waste, training provided to those workers are the challenges faced at the smaller places like
districts, mandals or other small towns. The process and procedures followed by the agencies working to
process the waste are also not as per the latest rules and regulations of BMWM. The bottom-line aspect for
the hospitals also makes the process sidelined.
A study pertaining to implementation of BMWM implementation has been carried out in districts of
Telanagana and the mandals there off. A questionnaire was prepared and they were orally questioned
regarding their knowledge pertaining to various aspects of BMW management. Interaction with around 250
staff working including ground level workers like Ayah, Ward boys and nurses show that for 85% of them
there was no practical training provided. More than 50% staff answered they are no proper charts showing
how to segregate the waste. In more than 95% of places like small clinics, day care centers and small nursing
homes there are no liquid waste treatment done.
Though the BMWM rules have been updated and there have been stringent rules and regulations, the ground
level implementation is not so easy.
Solution suggestive is to train and make the management especially the owners of the hospitals aware of
importance of BMWM as per the rules. A system to incentivise including local or state level awards for the
proper implementation of the process helps in improvement of present state of BMWM.