Analysis of the Current Management of Health Service Waste: A Case Study of a University Hospital in Manaus/AM

Abstract

The health waste management activity, whose steps range from the identification of generation sites to the environmentally appropriate final disposal, requires appropriate planning, where each step of the process needs to be performed properly to ensure worker safety and mitigate the impacts generated to the environment allied to the hospital costs. Current legislation, such as: Law 6.938/81, which deals with the National Environmental Policy, Resolution 222/2018, Law 12.305/2010, which establishes the National Policy on Solid Waste (PNRS), among others, guide this process. The general purpose of this case study is to analyze the current process of management and treatment of waste from the health service of the Hospital Universitário Getúlio Vargas (HUGV). To achieve these results, a quantitative/qualitative, exploratory descriptive research was carried out on the HUGV Waste Management Plan. The information was collected through an Observational Roadmap of the Current Flow, based on the ANVISA Board Resolution 222/2018. Consistently, the results obtained showed that the hospital cost of waste treatment is directly related to the management of HSW. With this, it was concluded that the management process carried out in the hospital is not fully in accordance with the current legislation, and that this non-compliance results in the high cost for the treatment and final destination of the HSW, demonstrating the importance and the need to update the hospital's PGRSS (Health Services Waste Management Program). The research makes a relevant contribution to the HUGV with suggestions for proposals for improvements in the work of managing HSW.