SOURCE:

Faculty: Environmental Sciences
Department: Environmental Management

CONTRIBUTORS:

Onwuemesi, F. E.
Okoye, P.A.C.

ABSTRACT:

The health services delivery all over the world generate waste that poses health hazards to health workers and the communities in general. The toxicological and health implications of improper waste disposal in the National Orthopaedic Hospital Enugu and the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital Ituku/Ozalla was investigated using qualitative and quantitative methods. A hydrodynamic dispersion model of heavy metals solute from the waste dumps in the two study areas was made. Soil, water and vegetable samples such as melon (citrullus lanatus), garden egg leaves (S. macrocarpon) and cucumber (cucumis sativus) were collected and analyzed for the presence of heavy metals. Rat injected with water samples in the neighborhood of the waste dump were used to test for the toxicological and health implications of heavy metals (Pb, Cd, Cr, As, Zn, Mg, Co, Ni, Cu and cobalt). The results of bacteriological analyzes at UNTH showed a bacterial mean concentration ranging from 85.10fµx106g-1, 30.09105g-1, and 67.32104g-1 for water melon, 98.16106g-1, 44.46105g-1, and 52.26104g-1for water melon at NOHE. In the same way, the result of bacterial mean concentration for garden egg showed 95.34106g-1, 51.48105g-1 and 46.18104g-1at NOHE and 101.00106g-1, 32.51105g-1and 56.97104g-1 at UNTH. The bacterial mean concentration for cucumber was also observed to be 85.43106g-1, 58.45105g-1, and 59.41104g-1at NOHE and 61.10106g-1, 27.18105g-1, and 33.48104g-1at UNTH. Moreover, the parasitological mean concentration of vegetables from UNTH and NOHE showed the presence of two worms ascaris lumbricaides eggs and giadia cyst egg at range of 1.6% and 1.86% for water melon; 2.18% and 1.78% for garden egg leave and 1.37% and 1.78% for cucumber at UNTH while 3.33% and 1.45% was for water melon, 4.00% and 2.18% for garden egg leave and 2.25% and 1.46% for cucumber at NOHE. The physicochemical analyses showed high level metal contents in vegetables, soil and water in the two hospitals. At the National Orthopaedic Hospital Enugu, Co, Cr, mg, and Ni were within the World Health Organization standard (WHO), while Cu, Cd, Cr, As, and Pb were above the permissible limit of WHO. The analysis of the rat kidney and liver organs showed an increase in heavy metal concentration in the two organs of the rat. The concentration of these metals in vegetables were higher than the permissible limit of Food and Agricultural Organization. The chromosomal aberration test also showed a significant alterations in the rat organs. The results of hydrodynamic solute dispersion analysis using triple vector model showed that the dispersion of the heavy metals in soil and water of the study area moves down the valley which indicate that the point sources of the pollutants are from the studied hospitals. The topographic base map of the two hospitals showed that the hospitals were located at cracked zone which helps to facilitate the easy movement of pollutant down the valley of the study area. The study therefore recommend that there should be a periodic monitoring of heavy metal dispersion in the study areas. Public awareness and proper health education especially to the scavengers and waste handlers should be made. Waste management policy should be introduced at the onset of the development of any healthcare facility. There should be mandatory check on the use of color code in the hospitals to ensure that the hospitals do not expose the public and healthcare wastes handlers to the danger of infection. Further study should be done in some other hospitals using bigger sampling size covering wider geographic regions, wastewater treatment and its impacts on the environment should also be investigated. Finally, toxicological impact of hospitals waste using other organs of animal such as blood, urine, serum and sperm should be done.