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Hospital Waste Treatment and Disposal in the General University Hospital - Current Situation and Future Challenges

The General Hospital of Prague, together with a maternity home, foundling hospital and hospice was established in 1790 under the so called “directive rules” issued by Josef II in 1781. At the time of its opening there were 300 beds and now the number varies from 1800 to 2000 beds. The present General University Hospital (GUH) is inevitably a producer of waste and must organise the management of this in all of its premises and departments in an acceptable non-noxious manner. From an ecological point of view it is important to separate the various kinds of waste produced which must then be kept in safe containers at selected places, protected against degradation, obstruction and leakage. Since, at the present time the GUH possesses neither an incinerator nor disposal site facilities. The different hospital waste fractions are taken by specialised companies responsible for its treatment and final disposal. Proper separation of waste has an important influence on the hospital budget. While the price of the mixed communal waste disposal is now approximately 2200 CZK (75 Euro) per tonne the specific sanitary hospital waste treatment costs 7800 CZK (260 Euro) per tonne. For this reason the GUH has its own internal directive with rules for handling all kinds of waste. According to this directive one person is nominated as responsible for waste treatment to manage the hospital waste at each work place, clinic and institute. The management of all of the hospital waste is the responsibility of the operational division of the hospital. The directive lists basic rules for safety, personal protection and emergency measures in case of accidents. This directive is part of the hospital operating instructions, based on the requirements of law No. 258/2000 on the Protection of Public Health, Waste Management Act No 185/2001 and the Methodological Instruction of the Ministry of Health of the Czech Republic issued in 2001. The expected development of present practices and future challenges in this field are discussed.