Medical waste management video course has been developed and launched in Kyrgyzstan

A video course on Medical Waste Management (MSM) has been developed in Kyrgyzstan as a response to the increase in medical waste due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The video course was developed by the Kyrgyz State Medical Institute for Retraining and further training together with the United Nations Development Program in the Kyrgyz Republic with the financial support from the Government of Japan. According to the expert`s feedback, this video course should become a desktop manual for medical professionals.

According to the World Health Organization, about 15% of medical waste poses a danger to humans and the environment. Thus, 16 billion injections are produced annually in the world. Not only disposable medical products but also other disposable tools are subject to disposal. But expired drugs, parts of radiological equipment, chemical reagents, mercury-containing, anatomical waste, and many others are also dangerous. Each year, up to 3 million (8.5% of the total) healthcare workers are injured acutely stabbing and cutting medical waste with the potential for the transfer of pathogenic transmission.

The aim of developing the video course is to reduce the risks of medical waste management by training doctors and other health care workers. Nadira Sorombayeva, Candidate of Medical Sciences, Head of the Department of Public Health of the Kyrgyz State Medical Institute for Retraining and Advanced Training, Aleksey Kravtsov, epidemiologist, Ph.D. Asel Kanymetova and Uulke Asyranova, epidemiologists of the Republican Scientific and Practical Center took part in the creation of video courses. infection control, Research and Production Association "Preventive Medicine".

"UNDP has implemented a comprehensive program aimed at mitigating the effects of the pandemic in the socio-economic and medical fields. In this regard, we previously trained 600 medical professionals across the country on medical waste management, monitored the implementation of the standards of UMO, and are now developing a policy brief with recommendations to the Ministry of Health and other relevant authorities. The video course is a digital supplement to this work, and we expect it to contribute to sustainable capacity building for health workers at all levels", said Erkinbek Kasybekov, Advisor to the UNDP Resident Representative in the Kyrgyz Republic.

“In Kyrgyzstan, the medical waste management system is only being formed. We tried to ensure that every healthcare professional understood in detail all the risks of careless or improper disposal of medical waste and knew how to manage this class of waste correctly. The videos are very easy to understand, their duration is no more than four minutes long. Despite this, we were able to transfer all the most important information on medical waste management. A video course on the disposal of medical waste should become a desktop guide for doctors", one of the course developers commented on the event", Aleksey Kravtsov.

The course consists of four videos:
1. Sorting, marking, and transportation of medical waste;

2. Disinfection of medical waste at the autoclaving point of medical waste ;

3. Emergencies when handling medical waste;

4. Decentralized and centralized healthcare waste management system.

You can watch a video course on medical waste management on the UNDP Youtube channel at https://www.youtube.com/user/UNDPKG. The video course is available in Russian with subtitles in Kyrgyz and English.

Media contacts

Chyntemir Kalbaev Communications Assistant UNDP +996775767605 chyntemir.kalbaev@undp.org