System dynamics approach for the relationship between different types of hospitals and hospital waste management (case study: Tabriz)

Hospitals are at the centre of providing different health services to society and their activities may include nutrition therapy, rehabilitation, prevention and health education promotion. During these activities, hospitals may produce waste from medical and non-medical activities. Health waste management is similar to other waste management systems and includes production, separation, gathering, storing, purification and final disposal. If hospital waste is not managed correctly, it will become one of the major factors of infectious diseases in the world, regarded as a serious health problem. Health and therapy waste management is related to the health and safety risks of the transportation of the waste produced from health centres. Our long-term objective was to develop a planning and selection system to support the future waste disposal capacity. The present research included using a system dynamics model by means of Vensim software for the prediction of waste produced in the health waste system in different hospitals.