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Health Care Waste management project for the Lebanese
army
Upon the request of the Lebanese army, a
project on Health Care Waste management was undertaken
during Summer- Fall 2008 with the assistance and coordination of the WHO
country office in Beirut.
The objective of this project is to ensure safe management of
hazardous/infectious healthcare
waste within and outside the military healthcare establishments.
The
Lebanese Army expressed their needs to train their health personnel on
Health Care Waste
Management (HCWM). The military Medical service requested WHO technical
support to undertake
a project on Health Care waste Management to improve the HCWM in the
central military hospital
and the regional military health departments in the country.
Objective:
The objective of this project is to
ensure safe management of hazardous/infectious healthcare waste
within and outside the military healthcare establishments to avoid any
potential transmission of
diseases within the community and to protect the army health facilities
personnel.
This project concluded with the
assistance and coordination of the WHO country office in Beirut includes
the following activities:
1- Undertaking an assessment of the
Health care waste management situation of the Central Military
Hospital and related Health services to ameliorate the situation of the
Health Care Waste Management
in the hospital and related services and to minimize the health risks
associated with the mismanagement
of the Health care waste. A report including the necessary
recommendations to improve the situation of
the HCWM in the hospital and related services was prepared and provided
to the Head of the Military
Medical Department and to the head of Central Military Hospital.
2- The implementation of fourteen
independent training sessions on Health Care Waste management
for around 450 military health personnels, officers and physicians to
increase their awareness on this
issue in order to undertake proper measures and decisions to improve the
management of Health Care
Waste in their medical institutions.
The training was held in the military
health school premises in the Central Military Department from
August- October 2008 for the military health personnels.
The results obtained showed that the
military army health personnels were able to benefit from the
training; the average increase in knowledge related to Health Care Waste
Management 91%.
A ceremony was held at the military
health school premises in the Central Military department on 19
December 2008 to distribute the certificates of attendance to the
military health personnels.
Dr. Houssain Abouzaid, WHO Representative and General Maurice Slim, the
head of the Military
Health Department gave speeches during the ceremony and expressed their
satisfaction in
relation to the interest shown by the participants in this important
subject.
Participants were interested and requested more in depth information.
They also requested
practical support in preparing for their emergency plans and networking
in their communities.
There is a great need for follow up and support for the health centres
to ensure that adequate
emergency plans are prepared and tested.
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