Comparative Assessment of Biomedical Waste Management Practices in Government and Private Healthcare Facilities of Nadaun Block, Himachal Pradesh, India

Biomedical waste management is an essential element of occupational safety and environmental protection in healthcare settings. This study compared practices in one government and one private healthcare facility in Nadaun Block, Hamirpur District, Himachal Pradesh. A cross-sectional, facility-level assessment was conducted over three months using structured questionnaires, interviews with healthcare and sanitation personnel, direct observations and a review of available records. Assessment domains included waste generation, segregation, temporary storage, internal transportation, personal protective equipment, staff training, documentation, monitoring, incident response and arrangements for external treatment and disposal. A 17-item checklist was used to derive descriptive compliance percentages for each facility. Both facilities segregated biomedical waste at the point of generation using colour-coded containers, maintained designated temporary storage areas and transferred waste to a common biomedical waste treatment facility. The government facility met 14 of the 17 checklist criteria (82.35%), compared with 12 criteria (70.59%) in the private facility. Differences were primarily associated with the formalisation of documentation, refresher-training schedules, monitoring and incident-response procedures, rather than basic waste segregation or disposal arrangements. Since only one purposively selected facility represented each sector, these findings describe the assessed institutions and cannot be generalised to government or private healthcare facilities more widely. The findings identify opportunities to strengthen routine documentation, staff training, facility-level monitoring and occupational-safety procedures within existing biomedical waste management arrangements.