BIOMEDICAL WASTE MANAGEMENT DURING COVID-19 PANDEMICSushma Rudraswamy, Fatihah Omar and Nagabhushana DoggalliAbstract The progressing COVID-19 pandemic has transformed the globe into state of chaos and killing many lives due to its infectious nature. In an urban populated by millions, many problems arise in this distressing and fast spreading nature of the disease, a major one includes improper management of medical waste. Improper management of biomedical waste emanating from the healthcare establishments have given rise to many environmental and health problems. A safe and effective management of waste is not only a legal necessity but also a social responsibility. Lack of concern, motivation, awareness and cost factor are some of the problems faced in the proper hospital waste management. Clearly there is a need for education as to the hazards associated with improper waste disposal. Lack of apathy to the concept of waste management is a major stymie to the practice of waste disposal. In order to find suitable articles, the following electronic databases were searched in PubMed, EMBASE, google scholar, and the electronic archives of the journals. âThe search terms for papers associated with biomedical waste management and COVID-19 were considered. Subsequently, the resulting literature reports were from searched databases. The present review covers response by India in COVID-19 pandemic, various treatment and disposal options of biomedical wastes for hospitals, Measures to ensure safety of employee in hospitals and sustainability approach to biomedical waste management during the pandemic. |