MEDICAL WASTE MANAGEMENT IN AL-BASHEER STATE HOSPITAL - CURRENT SITUATION AND FUTURE PROSPECTS

In the Middle East and North Africa Jordan is considered as the top medical tourism due to the high level of medical specialized medical centers in the country. In Jordan Ministry of Health monitors, evaluate, enforces, and regulates requirements of medical waste management over medical waste instructions No. 1/2001. Al-Bashir Hospital is the largest hospital in Jordan. It is built on 156 acres and consists of 49 buildings and 80 departments. It has been reported that Al-Bashir Hospital has 1150 medical bed in 2019 and expected to increase to 1500. About 3200 employee and 1100 clean workers give the medical treatment and service for 7000 patient per day and 1.5 million patient per year. The present situation of medical waste management in Al-Bashir Hospital has many problems. The most important is the pressure imposed by heavy population around the incineration unit in the Hospital. Furthermore, the change from incineration to autoclave is faced by high cost of the autoclaves. The quantity of medical waste created by Al-Bashir Hospital is up to 703.8 ton which constitutes about 33% of the total medical waste in Jordan. The high cost of fuel resulted in wrong acts in Al-Bashir Hospital like mixing medical waste with household waste and incineration at lower temperature (about 600 degrees C). If the incineration unit in Al-Bashir Hospital is closed the expenses will range from US$ 400,000 to 2.5 million.