The competent institutions and hospitals have not implemented almost half of the recommendations made by the State Audit Institution (SAI) after the catastrophic situation in the field of medical waste management was determined.
In March last year, the State Audit Office published an audit report that showed that medical waste management in Montenegro is characterized by serious problems, primarily due to the lack of strategic documents, weak institutional oversight and inadequate data recording. The Ministry of Health and competent institutions have not established an efficient control and monitoring system, which has resulted in poor implementation of planned activities and ambiguities in waste recording.
Seven recommendations given for seven audited entities have not been implemented, nine are in the implementation phase, the status of two has not been determined, while only five recommendations have been implemented.
A certain number of healthcare institutions, as determined by inspections, dispose of medical waste together with municipal waste, which is strictly prohibited and extremely dangerous to public health, and the state did not even have data on the total amount of medical waste produced in healthcare institutions, even though it represents the most dangerous waste after radioactive waste.
According to the report on the implementation of the SAI recommendations, no public health institution, except for the Clinical Center of Montenegro (KCCG), has employed or appointed persons with appropriate titles for the adequate management of waste generated in these institutions. The auditees have not adopted appropriate internal acts defining the obligation to report to the competent authorities.
KCCG and the Podgorica Health Center conducted supervision and control of waste management, and based on the determined situation, prepared reports with proposed measures to eliminate observed irregularities.
The competent board of the DRI concluded that the Ministry of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Development of the North, the Ministry of Health, the KCCG, the Clinical Hospital Center of Berane, the general hospitals of Nikšić and Bar should submit new reports on the implementation of recommendations by February 5 of next year, while the Podgorica Health Center no longer requires further monitoring of the recommendations.
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