Medical-Waste Chain: A Medical Waste Collection, Classification and Treatment Management by Blockchain Technology

Abstract

To prevent the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, 2019 has seen unprecedented demand for medical equipment and supplies. However, the problem of waste treatment has not yet been given due attention, i.e., the traditional waste treatment process is done independently, and it is not easy to share the necessary information. Especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, the interaction between parties is minimized to limit infections. To evaluate the current system at medical centers, we also refer to the traditional waste treatment processes of four hospitals in Can Tho and Ho Chi Minh cities (Vietnam). Almost all hospitals are handled independently, lacking any interaction between the stakeholders. In this article, we propose a decentralized blockchain-based system for automating waste treatment processes for medical equipment and supplies after usage among the relevant parties, named Medical-Waste Chain. It consists of four components: medical equipment and supplies, waste centers, recycling plants, and sorting factories. Medical-Waste Chain integrates blockchain-based Hyperledger Fabric technology with decentralized storage of medical equipment and supply information, and securely shares related data with stakeholders. We present the system design, along with the interactions among the stakeholders, to ensure the minimization of medical waste generation. We evaluate the performance of the proposed solution using system-wide timing and latency analysis based on the Hyperledger Caliper engine. Our system is developed based on the hybrid-blockchain system, so it is fully scalable for both on-chain and off-chain-based extensions. Moreover, the participants do not need to pay any fees to use and upgrade the system. To encourage future use of Medical-Waste Chain, we also share a proof-of-concept on our Github repository.

A hybrid machine learning-mathematical programming optimization approach for municipal solid waste management during the pandemic

“…The increase in the generation of MSW during the pandemic carries different social and environmental risks (Luhar et al, 2022 ). Face masks, syringes, and surgical gloves, among others, were the first line of defense against COVID-19, and because of this, once used, they represent a great risk to anyone who may come into contact with these residues (Singh et al, 2022 ), at the same time, it reduces the possibilities of reuse or treatment thanks to established medical waste treatment guidelines, which makes medical waste a growing problem in the world (Hou et al, 2022 ); since the disposal and utilization of medical waste, even in developed countries, has not been explicitly planned (Le et al, 2022 ).…”

Analisis Jaringan Stakeholder pada Pengelolaan Limbah Bahan Berbahaya dan Beracun Rumah Sakit di Jakarta

“…Permasalah seperti ini juga terjadi di Vietnam terkait transparansi proses pengawasan manajemen limbah medis rumah sakit lintas sektor. 36 Permasalahan selanjutnya adalah anggaran untuk kegiatan pengendalian pengelolaan lingkungan, pengawasan dan penegakan hukum tidak lebih dari 5% dari keseluruhan anggaran DLH Provinsi DKI Jakarta sejak tahun 2018. Diperlukan kerja sama atau kolaborasi dengan Dinas Kesehatan Provinsi DKI Jakarta sebagai organisasi perangkat daerah untuk pembinaan, pengawasan dan monitoring evaluasi dalam pengelolalaan LB3 Medis dari fasyankes sebagai binaan dari Dinkes.…”

Letter-of-Credit Chain: Cross-Border Exchange based on Blockchain and Smart Contracts

“…Several protocols exploited the blockchain system's advantage to improve their transaction among the peers or components. Some of them considered Cash-on-Delivery (COD) model [14], [15] (i.e., suppliers, demanders), the medical care system [16], [17], [18] (i.e., doctors and patients), health care emergency situation [19], [20] (i.e., medical staff and the patients' friends or relatives), or blood donation -humanitarian blood transfusion (donors and recipients) [21], [22] and much more.…”