4.2. Healthcare waste generation and segregation
The quantities of hazardous healthcare waste generated for the
past 10 years in Bahrain, in general, and in SMC, in particular, are
shown in Fig. 3. The results showed an increasing trend in the total
quantity of hazardous waste generated in the country. However,
the hazardous waste generation at SMC remains unchanged for
the past few years. This likely attributed to positive initiatives at
this hospital to reduce some of its hazardous wastes from their
sources. Examples of such initiatives included recent replacement
of traditional blood pressure devices and X-ray films with digitals.
This in turn eliminates generation of mercury from the traditional
blood pressure devices and reduces amount of corrosive chemicals
typically used for processing traditional X-ray films.