PROJECT DESCRIPTION
BACKGROUND
Mismanagement of dangerous hospital waste, including uncontrolled incineration of hospital waste and lack of national policies for dealing with dangerous and infectious medical waste gives rise to considerable negative effects on health and the environment in Lebanon. Dealing with medical waste is hence a high priority for the Ministry of Environment (MoE) in Lebanon. As a signatory to the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal, and of the Stockholm Convention, Lebanon is under the obligation to treat its dangerous hospital waste locally without resorting to incineration, which - when not controlled - is responsible for emissions of persistent organic pollutants. The MoE is also under the obligation to control potential leakages of hazardous substances into the surrounding environment.
OBJECTIVES
The project aimed to develop an integrated approach for dealing with medical waste in order to support national authorities in developing a comprehensive national strategy concerning collection and treatment systems for potentially infectious health care waste. To this effect, the project's objective was to initiate the treatment of hospital waste in the South Mont Liban region, train hospital personnel and launch an awareness raising campaign on hospital waste.
RESULTS
The project succeeded in its objectives. Medical waste was treated using both fixed treatment stations and a mobile sterilisation unit (Hydroclave), in order to serve all large and smaller health care facilities and make infectious waste inoffensive so that it can be disposed of safely, using standard municipal waste management systems. The combination of these two approaches provided enough capacity to process around 3 tonnes of waste per day, which accounts for 78 % of the infectious waste produced daily in the Greater Beirut region. Such results exceeded the project targets threefold.
Other important TCY outcomes included new studies and research to identify adequate treatment options for pharmaceutical and cytotoxic waste, both of which remain particularly problematic fractions of hospital waste.
Further knowledge-based capacities were built and sustained using the project’s successful training programme, which included specialised modules designed and aligned to meet the needs of different target groups in hospitals. Other Arab speaking countries have now expressed interest in receiving similar training for treating their medical waste, as well as hospitals running within the Palestinian camps in Lebanon. Furthermore, a good success was the international extension of the project, with training and research activities running now in Syria, France, Algeria and Jordan.
Key success factors noted by the beneficiary include their close cooperation and good relations with crucial stakeholders, such as the Ministries of Health and Environment and the syndicate of hospitals. In fact, the beneficiary, in cooperation with the Ministry of Environment, has prepared a revision of the Decree on medical waste, which defines the major requirements on medical waste management. This allowed the project to be fully integrated with mainstream hospital operations and also helped contribute to improving Lebanese legislation on medical waste treatment by providing a mechanism to incorporate waste management aspects into the obligatory certification for hospitals.
Further information on the project can be found in the project's layman report (see "Read more" section).The project succeeded in its objectives. Medical waste was treated using both fixed treatment stations and a mobile sterilisation unit (Hydroclave), in order to serve all large and smaller health care facilities and make infectious waste inoffensive so that it can be disposed of safely, using standard municipal waste management systems. The combination of these two approaches provided enough capacity to process around 3 tonnes of waste per day, which accounts for 78 % of the infectious waste produced daily in the Greater Beirut region. Such results exceeded the project targets threefold.Other important TCY outcomes included new studies and research to identify adequate treatment options for pharmaceutical and cytotoxic waste, both of which remain particularly problematic fractions of hospital waste.
Further knowledge-based capacities were built and sustained using the project’s successful training programme, which included specialised modules designed and aligned to meet the needs of different target groups in hospitals. Other Arab speaking countries have now expressed interest in receiving similar training for treating their medical waste, as well as hospitals running within the Palestinian camps in Lebanon. Furthermore, a good success was the international extension of the project, with training and research activities running now in Syria, France, Algeria and Jordan.
Key success factors noted by the beneficiary include their close cooperation and good relations with crucial stakeholders, such as the Ministries of Health and Environment and the syndicate of hospitals. In fact, the beneficiary, in cooperation with the Ministry of Environment, has prepared a revision of the Decree on medical waste, which defines the major requirements on medical waste management. This allowed the project to be fully integrated with mainstream hospital operations and also helped contribute to improving Lebanese legislation on medical waste treatment by providing a mechanism to incorporate waste management aspects into the obligatory certification for hospitals.
Further information on the project can be found in the project's layman report (see "Read more" section).