IIT Delhi researchers develop a real-time framework to support hospitals

Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi have developed a real-time decision support framework to aid hospitals in selecting a sustainable medical waste disposal firm.

According to the team, hospitals that encounter difficulty in disposing of their medical waste hygienically and sustainably can utilize the proposed decision support framework to choose the right firm for themselves.

The study titled “Selection of Healthcare Waste Disposal Firms Using a Multi-Method Approach” has been published in the Journal of Environmental Management.

“The research study shows the path to facilitate the hospitals with a real-time decision support framework considering numerous criteria and constraints for the selection of healthcare waste disposal firm,” said Surya Prakash Singh, Professor, Department of Management Studies, IIT-Delhi.

This becomes more relevant in COVID-19 times due to the increasing amount of healthcare waste and its hazardous and infectious composition such as syringes, masks, PPE kits, face shields, scalpels, bandages, blooded cotton, heavy metals, chemicals, etc, he said.

This study aims to propose a hybrid multi-criteria decision support framework integrated with a mathematical model to tackle the issue of safe disposal of hazardous and infectious healthcare waste, he said.

“The study shows a direction to hospital management in selecting an economically, socially, and environmentally sustainable healthcare waste disposal firm. Literature of the last twenty-five years has been carefully sifted through for leads in the identification of the selection criteria,” he added.

The study identifies 10 key success factors from literature and field surveys for selecting the best healthcare waste disposal firm. Findings reveal that experience of the firm, technology or disposal, and waste collection infrastructure act as a cause in selecting a healthcare waste disposal firm.

The researchers believe the outcomes of the study will have ramifications for policymakers in the health sector, hospitals, and entrepreneurs involved in medical waste collection and reuse and environment regulatory agencies.

“The decision model proposed by the study empowers the hospitals in the selection of the right firm for HCW disposal in a rational manner, reducing the confrontations between the various stakeholders such as hospitals, HCW firms, and environmental regulatory bodies like Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), thus creating a situation of peaceful coexistence,” Singh added.