Health and Technology, vol: 8,4 (2018)
The development method of bioremediation of hospital biomedical waste using hydrolytic bacteria
Ethica S.N., Saptaningtyas R., Muchlissin S.I., Sabdono A.
Abstract
Issuance of regulations aiming at encouraging hospital business investment and health services has led to significantly increased number of hospitals in Indonesia including Central Java Province. Primary concern is greater amount of biomedical waste exposing health risks to the environment. The search of inexpensive and environmentally friendly methods to handle biomedical waste is critical since the ability of hospitals in Indonesia to manage its waste is generally inadequate. Worldwide, investigation on biomedical waste treatment has still been going to date because the preexisting methods are considered costly and not environmentally friendly. Hydrolytic bacteria have been known for their ability in reducing water pollution parameter values of organic waste. The non-pathogenic ones play key role in accelerating degradation of biomedical wastes by limiting available nutrients suppressing growth of pathogenic microorganisms. Meanwhile, liquid biomedical waste reservoirs containing debris of organic matters are rich source of these bacteria. Hence, use of hydrolytic bacteria as bio-remediation agents is quite promising to resolve liquid biomedical waste problem. This paper justifies the need of bioremediation and contests the development method of bioremediation to handle hospital wastewater using hydrolytic bacteria as bioremediation agent. It hopefully could lead to a more economical and environmentally friendly alternative of hospital wastewater treatment in Central Java Indonesia, and possibly different areas in developing countries. As promotion of non-incineration method is among main recommendations of World Health Organization for Indonesia to handle biomedical waste, the development method of bioremediation as described in this review could be a breakthrough to improve the situation. © 2018, IUPESM and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.
Keyword: Central Java Province; Hospital waste; Hydrolytic bacterial bioremediation; Liquid biomedical waste