Which health-care waste is considered infectious waste? What are the regulations on infectious wastes segregation in healthcare facilities in Vietnam?
Which health-care waste is considered infectious waste in Vietnam?
Pursuant to Clause 2, Article 4 of Circular 20/2021/TT-BYT, infectious waste includes:
- Infectious sharps waste: needles, syringes with needles, intravenous line (IV) cannulas, puncture needles, acupuncture needles; scalpel blades, surgical nails, saws; used and disposed syringes, glass sharps, sharp objects, that is contaminated with or contains the human blood or pathogenic microorganisms;
- Infectious non-sharps waste: cottons, bandages, gauzes, gloves, and other non-sharp wastes that is not contaminated with or contains blood or pathogenic microorganisms; discarded inactivated vaccine or attenuated vaccine bottles; infectious liquid waste (includes drainage fluid after surgery or medical procedures and fluid waste that contains human blood or pathogenic microorganisms);
- Highly infectious waste: specimens, tools that contain specimens, wastes that contain discarded specimens from BSL-2 laboratories equivalent (biosafety level 2) or above; waste from isolation rooms, isolation wards, sampling areas for patients who have dangerous infectious diseases of group A and group B;
- Surgery waste: tissues, discarded human parts, and experimental animal carcasses;
Which health-care waste is considered infectious waste in Vietnam? (Image from the Internet)
What are the regulations on infectious wastes segregation in healthcare facilities in Vietnam?
Pursuant to Article 6 of Circular 20/2021/TT-BYT:
Health-care waste segregation
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3. Infectious wastes segregation:
a) Infectious sharps waste: put in the yellow puncture-proof trash can or container;
b) Infectious non-sharps waste: put in the yellow lined trash can;
c) Highly infectious waste: put in the yellow lined trash can;
d) Surgery waste: double-bagged or put in the yellow lined trash can;
dd) Liquid infectious waste: put in a sealed bag or in a storage tool with a sealed lid.
4. Non-infectious hazardous waste segregation:
a) Non-infectious hazardous wastes shall be segregated by hazardous waste code to be stored in appropriate packaging, tools, and equipment. Hazardous wastes that share the same properties; do not react with each other and treated with the same method; may be segregated in the same packaging, tool, equipment;
b) Non-infectious hazardous solid wastes: put in black bags, trash cans, or lined trash cans;
c) Non-infectious hazardous liquid waste: put in storage tools with a sealed lid.
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Thus, the infectious wastes segregation is as follows:
- Infectious sharps waste: put in the yellow puncture-proof trash can or container;
- Infectious non-sharps waste: put in the yellow lined trash can;
- Highly infectious waste: put in the yellow lined trash can;
- Surgery waste: double-bagged or put in the yellow lined trash can;
- Liquid infectious waste: put in a sealed bag or in a storage tool with a sealed lid.
What are the regulations on infectious waste collection in healthcare facilities in Vietnam?
Pursuant to Clause 1 Article 7 of Circular 20/2021/TT-BYT, the infectious waste collection is as follows:
- A healthcare facility shall regulate the flow and time of infectious waste collection in a manner that they do not affect its patient care area and other areas.
- Waste collection tools shall ensure no waste is leaked in the process;
- Infectious waste shall be separately collected from where it is generated to the temporary waste storage area in a health-care facility. Waste bags, trash cans shall be sealed before they are collected;
- Highly infectious wastes shall be pre-treated near the place where it is generated to exterminate pathogens with disinfection equipment. For healthcare facilities that do not have disinfection equipment, highly infectious wastes shall be double-bagged, put in sealed trash cans labeled with " CHẤT THẢI CÓ NGUY CƠ LÂY NHIỄM CAO” (highly infectious waste) before being collected. These wastes shall be separately stored at the waste storage area to receive treatment or dispatch to handling units in accordance with regulations;
- Infectious liquid wastes shall be collected by the health-care wastewater collection system of a healthcare facility. These wastes shall be managed in accordance with regulations on wastewater management;
- Infectious wastes shall be collected at least one time per day. For health-care facilities that generate less than 5 kg of infectious wastes per day, infectious wastes shall be collected at least one time per day and infectious sharps shall be collected at least one time per month.
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