Biosafety and Biomedical Waste Management In Pakistan: A Case Study of Major Cities Near Pak-Afghan Border

Our community is unaware of the basic concepts of biosafety and biomedical waste management. Biosafety is the containment and safe handling of hazardous materials and infectious agents while biomedical waste management includes the proper segregation and disposal of waste materials generated in health care facilities. Laboratories and hospital administrations should ensure biosafety and proper biomedical waste disposal to protect the humans, animals and the environment from the harmful effects infectious agents. Need for such management practices has been significantly increased in the face of new drug resistant bacteria and new strains of viruses. This survey was carried out from July-December 2020 in order to look into the biosafety and biomedical waste management practices followed in major and most populous cities of Pakistan in area bordering Afghanistan i.e. Peshawar, Mardan, Charsaddah and Nowshehra. During the survey laboratories and hospitals (including veterinary hospitals) of both public and private sector were selected and assessed through pre-scheduled and random visits to clearly observe the situation. It was observed during the surveys that majority of the laboratories and hospitals were not following the standard Biosafety and Biomedical Waste Management guidelines, lacking the proper use of personal protection equipment’s (PPE), spill management, disinfection, decontamination, waste segregation and disposal. Inadequate biosafety measure and waste management give rise to a great number health and environmental problems. Therefore, it is recommended that biosafety and biomedical waste management concerns should be communicated with all stakeholders for designing strategies and action plans to cope with this alarming situation.