EURO-ECO 2010Hanover2 - 3 Dezember 2010 |
Environmental, Engineering - Economic and Legal Aspects for Sustainable Living |
European Academy of Natural Sciences, HanoverEuropean Scientific Society, HanoverUniversity of Bremen, Bremen |
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| Maria Lyubarskaya | THE ROLE OF THE PROJECT «CLINWASTE» IN PERFECTION OF CLINICAL WASTE MANAGEMENT IN NORTH-WEST RUSSIA AND LATVIA |
| Saint-Petersburg State University of Engineering and Economics, Saint-Petersburg, Russia |
Health care services create the impact on the environment at different stages: contaminants from waste of health care institutions entering the environment in the course of their time storage and during transportation in case of emergencies, and also if they come on dumps and ranges. Hazardous substances can contaminate environment and to make it harmful to the person.
Health care waste in most cases contains in the structure of originators the infectious diseases, harmful and hazardous chemical substances. Owing to possible contamination of almost all elements of environment — waters, air, soil, they can make appreciable impact on population health.
At the stages of time storage of clinical waste in territories of health care institutions and their transportation to the places of utilization and final disposal the ground and surface waters can be contaminated. The great attention in connection with ubiquitous deterioration of water in water supply sources now is given to a problem of contamination of superficial sewage. As it is known, the superficial drain from territories of cities can be at the bottom of essential contamination of water in reservoirs. The applied system of mechanical purification, unfortunately, does not solve completely questions on safe dump of storm sewage in reservoirs, and in a number of cities they are dumped and at all without purification. Still there is unresolved a problem of purification of a superficial drain from chemical and bacterial contamination.
Health care waste is a specific group of a waste, epidemiological and which environmental danger is caused, first, by their degree of contamination of biological agents that demands the special control at the stages of their handling.
Among a flows of health care waste especially hazardous make to 15% (from them potentially infected – up to 10%, chemical/pharmaceutical, acute subjects, radioactive – up to 5%), the others - the general not infected waste which leave as household and do not demand special cautions.
For now for territories of the Russian Federation it has been saved up more than 3,5 million tons of a health care waste, from them more than 2 million tons (60%) – a harmless waste, 1,2 million tons (35%) - a hazardous (risky) waste, more than 100 thousand tons (5%) – extremely hazardous and radioactive waste.
The modern sanitary-and-epidemiologic condition of public health care institutions is in many respects defined by the accepted rules of health care waste handling. Now in the Russian Federation more than 90 thousand of health care institutions. The analysis of their sanitary condition has shown that only 34,5% from their general quantity correspond to hygienic requirements and sanitary-and-epidemiologic rules.
Serious problem is shortage and absence in territory of the Russian Federation in health care institutions of the equipments for a decontamination and thermal destruction of a health care waste.
In the Russian Federation the problem of legislative and technological maintenance of health care waste handling till now is not solved at realization of the customs procedures, the forged pharmaceutical preparations.
The current situation is aggravated with absence in the Russian Federation economically effective is standard-legal, institutional and organizational conditions in the field of health care waste management. There is no uniform compounded policy between the federal enforcement authorities which are carrying out activity in the field of health care waste management.
The problem of health care waste extremely acutely costs not only in Russia, but also worldwide. So, the Basel convention has allocated 45 kinds of the hazardous waste which list opens a health care waste. According to the Basel convention a health care waste of hospitals, other health care institutions and pharmaceutical producers are defined as hazardous without an exception.
Recently their quantity has the proof tendency to augmentation and change of morphological structure of a waste that is bound to wide use of modern polymeric materials for manufacture of disposable products of medical appointment. The special attention is deserved by the infected waste which creates potential danger of program of infectious diseases as in inside establishments where they are formed, and out of him. In view of catastrophic level of augmentation of quantity of a HIV-infected and prompt development of epidemic of a tuberculosis, the problem adequate and safe handling of a health care waste is represented extremely important and actual for our country. Improving situation of clinical (health care) waste collection and treatment will lead to reduction of hazardous substances in environment.
Saint-Petersburg State University of Engineering and Economics (ENGECON) was the lead partner of the project «Material Exchange – Exchange of secondary raw materials between North-West Russia and South-East Finland», which was successfully executed in 2007-2008. The main objective of the project was to develop the environmental line of business by creating new means for cross-border exchange of environmental services, technologies and materials. Within the limits of the given project the question of health care waste handling was not considered, but importance of this kind of waste was realized.
Therefore the idea of the project «ClinWASTE - Perfection of clinical waste management in North-West Russia and Latvia» was created. The analytical background of the ClinWASTE project will be carrying out by Saint-Petersburg State University of Engineering and Economics and Riga Technical University. The partners of the ClinWASTE project also will be health care institutions from Saint-Petersburg and Latvia which have experience in perfection of clinical waste handling system and want to exchange their knowledge and practical means through creating cross-border net in this field. The final beneficiaries of the project will be the administrations and population of cities in North-West Russia and Latvia, especially Saint-Petersburg, Riga and Rezekne.
The overall objective of the ClinWASTE project will be reduction of negative impact of clinical waste on environment and quality of human’s life in the regions of Latvia and Northwest Russia. The specific objective of the project will be development of the cross-border cooperation in clinical waste management perfection between Latvia and Northwest Russia by means of introduction of the best practice of European countries in the field of clinical waste collection and treatment and creating mercury free hospitals strategy.
The main activities of the ClinWASTE project will be:
The target groups of the ClinWASTE project will be personnel of health care institutions, Health Care and Environmental Departments of city Administration, medical scientific research institutes, medical schools and universities, manufacturers and sellers of health care production.
The activities of the ClinWASTE project correspond to the targets defined by the EC policies on reduction of global contaminants that impact the environment and public health, protection of the health of patients, health-care workers and communities:
