Hospital effluents are heavily loaded with pathogenic microorganisms, pharmaceuticals partially metabolized, radioactive elements and other toxic chemical substances such as antitumor agents, antibiotics and organohalogen compounds. The exposure to hazardous health-care wastewater can result in infection, genotoxicity and cytotoxicity, chemical toxicity, radioactivity hazards, physical injuries and public sensitivity. Humans are particularly exposed to such wastes by the drinking water produced from contaminated surface waters. Screening of wastewaters produced from hospitals is, therefore, necessary to predict the actual health hazards that may be caused due to their improper discharge. Thus, concerning the possible threat generated due to untreated hospital wastewater, this paper attempts toxicological characterization of hospital wastewaters in order to investigate their probable toxic effects on microbial population. A bacterial short term bioassay viz. Pseudomonas fluorescens growth inhibition assay was used to determine the toxicological effects of effluents from three selected hospitals located in Jaipur (Rajasthan), India.
