Medical waste management in Thailand and Vietnam
Honkanen, Teija (2024)
Lisensiaatintutkielma
2024
School of Energy Systems, Ympäristötekniikka
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe2024061955625
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe2024061955625
Tiivistelmä
The purpose of this study is to provide information for feasibility assessment of medical waste incineration in South-East Asia. Countries selected for closer examination from the area are Thailand and Vietnam. The reason for selecting these countries is to limit the amount of needed research to a reasonable level. These countries have increasing population and present well the countries in this area. Thailand is classified as upper middle-income country whereas Vietnam is classified as lower middle-income country. There is also adequate amount of information available from these countries for the study.
Information for the study has been collected from literature, by collecting information with questionnaire and from site visits. Questionnaire was formed based on decision making chain proposed by World Bank for assessment of waste incineration projects. Questionnaire was delivered for specialists in Thailand and Vietnam by using anonymous Webropol link. A part of answers was collected in Thai language and the Mahasarakham University helped in collecting these answers. Site visits were made to Mahasarakham area in Thailand and four facilities were visited there to study the current situation of medical waste handling in Thailand. Two of these facilities were hospitals and other two were clinics.
It can clearly be seen that there is still some work to do in improving medical waste management both in Thailand and Vietnam. Medical waste management also needs some more resources in both countries. It can clearly be seen that the number of beds in hospitals is increasing strongly in near future, and this means that also amount of medical waste will increase. It is clearly visible that handling of medical waste has some alternatives, but they all require financing. Disinfection units are expensive so keeping up with the capacity to handle the medical waste requires some financing. Incinerator would be a feasible solution for handling the large amounts medical waste since existing incinerators are under dimensioned even for current needs not to mention the future needs. Building a local incinerator is seen as difficult task with all its requirements like modern flue gas cleaning and public acceptance.
Information for the study has been collected from literature, by collecting information with questionnaire and from site visits. Questionnaire was formed based on decision making chain proposed by World Bank for assessment of waste incineration projects. Questionnaire was delivered for specialists in Thailand and Vietnam by using anonymous Webropol link. A part of answers was collected in Thai language and the Mahasarakham University helped in collecting these answers. Site visits were made to Mahasarakham area in Thailand and four facilities were visited there to study the current situation of medical waste handling in Thailand. Two of these facilities were hospitals and other two were clinics.
It can clearly be seen that there is still some work to do in improving medical waste management both in Thailand and Vietnam. Medical waste management also needs some more resources in both countries. It can clearly be seen that the number of beds in hospitals is increasing strongly in near future, and this means that also amount of medical waste will increase. It is clearly visible that handling of medical waste has some alternatives, but they all require financing. Disinfection units are expensive so keeping up with the capacity to handle the medical waste requires some financing. Incinerator would be a feasible solution for handling the large amounts medical waste since existing incinerators are under dimensioned even for current needs not to mention the future needs. Building a local incinerator is seen as difficult task with all its requirements like modern flue gas cleaning and public acceptance.