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Top1 Introduction
Sustainable Development is the buzzword of this decade and has drawn attention of researchers and practitioners across the globe(Joseph & Kulkarni, 2020). Decision makers both in industries as well as governments has realized that adoption of Sustainable development operational policies is essential to address world’s resource and energy challenges(Vara et al., 2019). Hence, industries are increasingly showing inclination towards sustainability practices and developing process and policies in this regard. Sustainability practices emphasises simultaneous improvements in three fronts social, economical and environmental(Saroha et al., 2019; Abdullah, 2020). Organisations operating health care sector also adopting various strategies to improve their performance aligned with sustainable development guidelines. Waste management is one such strategy. Through proper waste management practices HCUs can reduce their contribution towards spread of dreaded diseases like hepatitis C, Cholera, HIV and enhance their social performance. This also will help the HCUs in saving cost in terms of reduced penalty, recycling of recyclable material and enhanced corporate image thus enabling them in achieving economical objective. A proper waste management practice also enhances environmental performance of HCUs in terms of reduced emissions and contamination of soil as well as water. However, the managementof Health Care Waste (HCW) in Papua New Guinea (PNG) is far behind other developing countries(Gaitu, et al., 2019). The current medical waste management system in PNGs health facilities is not effective. Health care services such as diagnosis, treatment and immunization processes produce health care waste as by product in healthcare establishments(Mishra, et al., 2018a; Swain, et al., 2017; Faisal et al., 2010).This research employed data collection from primary and secondary sources to finds out what are the guidelines set by WHO to manage HCW, what PNG adopted for the HCWM for both rural and urban areas and what are the issues with the HCWM system. Through review of literature and discussion with experts, environmental impacts of poor HCWM practices are identified.
It was stressed by researchers that HCW has several harmful risky chemical and biological impacts on society and environment that include infections caused through contaminated materials, chemical poisoning and radioactive pollution(Mishra, et al., 2018a; Swain, et al., 2017). Further, the increase in HCW generation and its improper management results in unnecessary carbon emissions, contamination, pollution, environmental degradation and climate change which are threatening to the environment and humans(Mishra, et al., 2018b). Poor Health Care Waste Management (HCWM) in Papua New Guinea (PNG) poses a serious threat to both the environment and human health. Site visits are also conducted to observe various waste treatments practices adopted by the PNG’s health care units and associated issues. From research conducted, it was found that there are 80% provincial hospitals with malfunctioning incinerators. This is because of aging, deterioration and lack of maintenance of the equipment. Health facilities in rural areas resort to either burning and bury wastes or using rural incinerators since there are lack of services into remote parts of PNG such as availability of power supply and fuel to operate electric incinerators. Hence, it was felt essential to explore various waste management alternatives available in the context of PNGs health care units and to develop a framework that will help the decision makers and practitioners to identify the best alternative waste treatment strategy specific to their unit