Medical waste management at the Oncology Institute of Vojvodina: possibilities of successful implementation of medical waste regulation in Serbia

Abstract

Implementation of National waste management strategy, which included most of Healthcare facilities (HCF) in Serbia, began in 2009. The present study aimed to evaluate the medical waste management strategy protocol at Oncology Institute of Vojvodina, which is the first institution in Vojvodina and one of the first institutions in Serbia which has implemented the recomended medical waste management protocol. Segregation, storage, transportation and treatment were all evaluated and that was all performed according to National strategy. Biohazard generation rate was 0,17 kg/bed/day, which correspods with values in the HCF in Eastern Europe. The results show that the methods for safe management of medical waste are acceptable, affordable, and economically justifable to accomplish the reduction in the financial costs in HCF business, and can serve as representative of proper medical waste management practice for other HCF.