Knowledge about the potential for harm from healthcare wastes has now become more important for governments in many countries to governments, with the vast volume of samples being handled and tested during the COVID-19 pandemic. Managers and medical staff are expected to take more responsibility for the produced wastes from medical care and related activities within their respective settings. The indiscriminate and erratic handling and disposal of waste within healthcare facilities are now widely recognized as a source of avoidable infection as well as a synonymous of public perception for poor standards of health care.

In Libya, the National Center for Disease Control (NCDC), in collaboration with GHD|EMPHNET and George Town University, developed Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for medical waste management (MWM) to support the implementation of basic concepts in MWM. These SOPs provide technical guidance to all personnel in biological laboratories that actively handle or manage biological agents and toxins. This document describes procedures for medical waste collection, segregation, offsite transportation, safe treatment, and disposal.

In the coming months, these SOPs will be implemented in relevant health facilities across the country.

The SOPs are available in English and Arabic.