Examination of medical waste management in Cankaya district of Ankara province

In this study, it is aimed to examine medical waste management in health institutions in Çankaya district of Ankara province. For this purpose, the compliance of the practices related to collection, transportation and disposal of medical wastes to the legislation has been evaluated. At the same time, a questionnaire was applied to the health care institution employees and the level of medical waste information of the employees was measured. In the study, medical waste management of 6 health institutions was examined. As a result of the investigation, it has been determined that the health institutions that are researched are not strictly obeyed and that the importance of the separate collection of wastes at the source is not given. It has been observed that the disposal of medical wastes by the licensed company, which has been transferred to Ankara Metropolitan Municipality in the management of medical waste, has been carried out in accordance with the legislation. An average of 3825 tons of medical waste is collected annually from health institutions in Çankaya. Decreases in the amount of medical waste were observed in 2017 and 2018. As a result of the evaluation of the questionnaire, it was seen that the knowledge level of the employees on medical wastes was low. As a result of the study, it has been suggested that the wastes that are not infected by the sterilization method of the infected wastes should be disposed of in the disposal of medical wastes.