Author(s)

Mohammad Azmal¹, Rohollah Kalhor², Nayeb Fadaei Dehcheshmeh³, Salimeh Goharinezhad⁴, Zohreh Asadollahi Heidari⁵, Fereshteh Farzianpour^6*

¹Bushehr University of Medical Sciences, Bushehr, Iran.
²Health Information Management Research Center, Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences, Bandar Abbas, Iran.
³Health Affairs Department, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran.
⁴Hospital Management Research Center, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
⁵Rasoul-e-Akram Hospital Complex, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
⁶Department of Health Management and Economics, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.

Hospitals have always been the focal point of social systems identity. Thus, they acte as the mirror of the community and should be responsible for it. Hospitals have been recognized as a significant source of contamination all around the world, therefore helping to endanger public health on an unintentional process. Although, the main mission of the hospital is to promote human health, it cannot be assumed as an island apart from its urban environment. “Green Hospital”, as an approach to address environmental challenges and to meet communities need in health issues, has emerged recently as a try to improve the health, in line with its main mission. In this approach, all the environmental aspects of waste management are important and to be addressed. Hospitals’ administrators can manage wastes disposal through composting, recycling and better supplying methods (downsizing packaging, using reusable products instead of disposables and using recycled products). This article is a review of the subject matter, in nature, using many library and online sources; it discusses about the need to move towards the green hospital approach, the administration and leadership role in its establishment, the environmental impact of hospital operations and assessment of the effects, wastes management and control, and also the methods in wastes disposal and treatment.

Green Hospital, Wastes, Wastes Management

Azmal, M. , Kalhor, R. , Dehcheshmeh, N. , Goharinezhad, S. , Heidari, Z. and Farzianpour, F. (2014) Going toward Green Hospital by Sustainable Healthcare Waste Management: Segregation, Treatment and Safe Disposal. Health, 6, 2632-2640. doi: 10.4236/health.2014.619302.