QUANTITATIVE ASSESSMENT OF MEDICAL WASTE GENERATION IN THE HOSPITALS OF ISTANBUL, TURKEY

Medical waste can consist of infectious, radioactive, and toxic substances from hospitals, laboratories, and clinics. In this study, total medical wastes volume were investigated for different medical organization such as state, university and private hospitals in Istanbul during 2002 to 2007. Thus the changing medical waste amount were analyzed yearly in Istanbul, Turkey and compared to the medical waste average generation rate (kg/bed-day) to other countries in order to show how successful the medical waste management system is done. Medical waste amounts have been increased in Istanbul despite reduced bed capacity from 2002 to 2007. The highest generation rate 1.85 kg/bed/day (2.89 kg/patient/day) was found in private hospitals in Istanbul 2007. The results indicated that total medical waste generation rate was 0.67, 0.58, 1.85 kg/bed-day for the state, university and private hospitals in 2007 respectively.