PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF BURSA CITY (TURKEY) MEDICAL WASTE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

Abstract

Medical wastes are to be collected in different ways than other wastes, and eliminated with specifically designed procedures. Based on this acknowledgement the medical wastes in our country have been managed according to the Regulation of Medical Wastes enacted and published in the Official Bulletin # 25883 on July 22, 2005. Previously buried via calcification at best, today medical wastes are to be properly managed and eliminated as required by this Regulation. After the Regulation's enactment, the City of Bursa also acted and initiated a management plan; consequently, a management system based on sterilization and elimination via the gathering of the wastes in plastic boxes with barcodes that allow online tracking has been established. Thanks to this system, it has become possible to accurately monitor medical waste. In addition, the system can weigh/calculate the quantity of these medical wastes, record and control them. The efficiency of the system will be measured based on the quantity of wastes picked up before and after the launch of this procedure, and the change over time in the volume and quantity of wastes regularly sent to landfill after sterilization. In this study, we analyze the time-change (the change over time) of gathered and stocked amounts of wastes in the City of Bursa depending on population and the number of hospitals. The study has calculated amounts of medical wastes per person which is 1,30 kg/person per year and amount of medical waste per bed which is 1,15 kg/bed per day, thus evaluated the above described management system for 2008.