Abstract—Healthcare Waste (HCW) constiutes a special category of waste because they contain potentialy harmful materials. The problem of how to manage HCW has become one of critcal concerns in developing countries. A cros sectional descriptive study of Medical Waste Management (MWM) practice and their implication to health and environment was caried out betwen August and September 2012 in Calabar metropolis, Cros River State, Nigeria with the aim of asesing the curent practices and commitment o sustainable HCW management in thre (1 tertiary, 1 General and 1 Private) hospitals ranging in capacity from 30 to 50 beds. The study aproach involved the estimation of the quantiy of HCW generated, evaluation of the waste segregation practices and determination of the knowledge of healthcare workers regarding HCW management. Daily waste inventory of each ward was caried out. An evaluation of the status of the waste management practice in the health facilty was caried out using the folowing criteria: waste management (responsibilty, segregation, storage and packaging); waste transport; waste recycling and reuse; waste treatment and final disposal. The result obtained from the study showed wastes generation at he rate of 1.31, 1.16 and 0.78 kg/day/patient for large, medium and smal sized hospitals, respectively. Comparing the results goten from the tertiary hospital and results goten from developed countries, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used which showed a les non-signifcant value. Out of the 189 people that participated in the survey of medical waste management, 19% of the people were highly concerned. 38% of the people were slightly concerned and 3% of them were neutral in their aproach. The remaining people were not at al concerned with the MWM. Profesion and age semed to have an efect on the result. 

Index Terms—healthcare waste, microbial infections, waste segregation

Cite: Agunwamba J C, Emenike P C, and Tenebe I T, "Comparative Analysis of Hospital Waste Management in Calabar Metropolis and Developed Countries," International Journal of Structural and Civil Engineering Research, Vol. 2, No. 4, pp. 154-167, November 2013.