Evaluación de la generación de los residuos sólidos sanitarios de centros hospitalarios del cantón Ambato

Abstract

Hospital waste has existed since the beginning of the population; over time, it has been shown that population growth has led to an increase in solid waste in the cantons, causing environmental problems, environmental degradation and health problems. This study aimed to evaluate the generation of solid sanitary waste from Hospital Centers in the Ambato canton by identifying health centres, rapid impact assessment (RIAM) and evaluation of their Environmental Performance. The methodology to identify the centres with the highest generation was through a documented review (2022) and direct communication with those in charge of the Health Centers. Environmental impacts were evaluated for RSS management by applying the (RIAM), which focused on four categories of environmental components. Two indicators were evaluated to determine the Environmental Performance: The EDG through interviews for information collection. The IDO was evaluated by collecting data from the generation of RSS (kg) provided by the EMP - GIDSA for the year 2022 through statistical treatment, applying ANOVA of one factor and the Tuckey test to determine: the amount of monthly solid sanitary waste ( PPC) of the year 2022, from the health centres of Ambato canton. The results showed that public health centres generated 110.72 tons of RSS, while private centres generated 53.66 tons in 2022. The EDG revealed high compliance for both public and private centres in environmental management. The IDO showed a decrease of 22.68% in the RSS generation rate in private centres and 4.56% in public centres in terms of PPC in 2022. It is concluded that the private sector had a lower environmental auditing level than the public sector.