The purpose of the CityLinks partnership between the Jordan University of Science and Technology (JUST), the Jordan Ministry of Health (MoH), and East Carolina University (ECU), May 2003-October 2005, was to enhance medical waste management practices in northern Jordan as a model that other regions in the country could follow.
The northern region was chosen primarily because of the readily available disposal capacity at JUST, which had two incinerators. ECU was chosen as Jordan’s U.S. partner because it is one of the few universities that incinerates its own medical waste and has a close relationship with a hospital. In addition, ECU’s incinerator and medical waste management system are state-of-the-art.
An important aspect of the partnership was a review of Jordan's regulatory program for medical waste management. Over the course of the partnership, David Lancaster, ECU’s director of facilities maintenance, joined ICMA in conducting a review of the current medical waste management practices by visiting several northern Jordanian hospitals.
The partnership began collecting medical waste from northern hospitals after the MoH and JUST formally agreed that JUST would collect waste from public hospitals in the region on a fee-for-service basis (the fee to be paid by the MOH). The collection of the waste, in addition to the technical assistance provided by ECU and ICMA, was made possible by the procurement of two medical waste transport vehicles and waste bins provided by USAID.
In addition, the partnership conducted a series of medical waste management workshops on the campus of JUST in Irbid. ECU provided guidance and training materials and participated in the training program. The workshops focused on incinerator operations and targeted hospital administrators, supervisors of doctors and nurses, housekeeping staff, and incinerator operators.
The partnership also focused on improving the incinerators to meet MoH regulatory standards to adequately burn medical waste. Upgrading the incinerators required the installation of emissions monitoring and cleaning devices, an automated waste bin feeder, and other modifications. As the project ended, the partnership had secured a commitment from the Swiss government to financially support the upgrading of the JUST incinerators, which are Swiss made.
By the end of the project, the team had implemented policies and procedures in hospitals that ensure:
- Efficient and safe collection and transportation of medical waste from hospitals to the JUST incinerators
- Appropriate separation of medical and regular solid waste
- Limited or no exposure to medical waste by doctors, nurses, and patients
- Development of a strategy for private-sector involvement in medical waste management throughout Jordan
- Development of a strategy to improve the effectiveness of the regulatory enforcement of medical waste requirements
- Increased hospital staff capacity to manage and handle medical waste.