title: Segregation of biomedical waste in an South Indian tertiary care hospital.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Hospital wastes pose significant public health hazard if not properly managed. Hence, it is necessary to develop and adopt optimal waste management systems in the hospitals.
  
  
  METHODS
  Biomedical waste generated in Coimbatore Medical College Hospital was color coded (blue, yellow, and red) and the data was analyzed retrospectively on a daily basis for 3 years (January 2010-December 2012).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Effective segregation protocols significantly reduced biomedical waste generated from 2011 to 2012. While biomedical waste of red category was significantly higher (>50%), the category yellow was the least. Per unit (per bed per day) total biomedical waste generated was 68.5, 68.8, and 61.3 grams in 2010, 2011, and 2012, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Segregation of biomedical waste at the source of generation is the first and essential step in biomedical waste management. Continuous training, fixing the responsibility on the nursing persons, and constant supervision are the key criteria's in implementing biomedical waste segregation process, which can significantly reduce per unit biomedical waste generated.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We highly recommend all hospitals to adopt our protocol and effectively implement them to reduce generation of biomedical waste.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopedics, Coimbatore Medical College and Hospital, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India.
authors.forename: Vetrivel Chezian
authors.initials: VC
authors.lastname: Sengodan
keywords: Biomedical waste; India; color coding; tertiary hospital; waste segregation
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