title: Hospital waste operational procedures: a case study in Brazil.
abstract: This study analysed the hospital waste management practices and their implications to public health in the city of Belo Horizonte, south eastern Brazil. Belo Horizonte is a regional capital city located 300 miles from the famous city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is only 100 years old and is the first city planned in Brazil. It was originally planned for 300,000 people but, today, it is home to more than 2 million people. This study assessed the operational procedures at five hospitals (170 to 450 beds) with different medical specialties in order to analyse their major waste problems. This study also gathered data on different types of treatment and disposal procedures used by waste generators, which enabled an estimate on the amount of on-site and off-site waste generated.
authors.affiliation: Brazilian Ministry of Health, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, School of Public Health, Department of Sanitation and Environmental Health, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil. aldo@ensp.fiocruz.br
authors.forename: Aldo Pacheco
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Ferreira
authors.forename: Marcelo Motta
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Veiga
mesh_terms: D001938:Brazil; D002947:Cities; D004787:Environmental Pollution / Q000517:prevention & control; D006779:Hospitals, Public / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D017744:Medical Waste Disposal / Q000379:methods*; D019982:Organizational Case Studies; D011634:Public Health; D018505:Waste Management / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D017744:Medical Waste Disposal