IIT Delhi study shows path to hospitals struggling with sustainable medical waste disposal
India Today
This IIT Delhi study has shed light on how hospitals struggling with sustainable medical waste disposal can select the right firm for the work.
IIT Delhi researchers led by professor Dr. Surya Prakash Singh from the Department of Management Studies in a study have thrown light on how hospitals can select a sustainable medical waste disposal firm.
Researchers say that the hospitals, which often encounters the difficulty in disposing their medical waste in a hygienic and sustainable way, can utilize a decision support framework proposed in their study.
The research paper titled ‘Selection of Healthcare Waste Disposal Firms Using a Multi-Method Approach’ by Prof. Surya Prakash Singh and his collaborator Dr. Ankur Chauhan, Jaipuria Institute of Management, Noida, India was published in the Journal of Environmental Management
The research study shows the path to facilitate the hospitals with a real-time decision support framework considering numerous criteria and constraints for the selection of healthcare waste disposal firm(s).
In Covid times, this becomes more relevant due to the increasing amount of healthcare waste and its hazardous and infectious composition such as syringes, masks, PPE kits, face shield, scalpels, bandages, blooded cottons, heavy metals, and chemicals etc.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has also advocated considering these wastes different from other wastes such as non-hazardous municipal solid waste.
“The aim of this study is to propose a hybrid multi criteria decision support framework integrated with mathematical model to tackle the issue of safe disposal of hazardous and infectious healthcare waste,” Prof. Surya Prakash Singh, Department of Management Studies, IIT Delhi said.
