International Consultant to Provide the Assessment of the Health Care Waste Management in Montenegro

Background

Medical waste is classified as hazardous that poses a greater risk to the environment and human health and non-hazardous waste. The classification into hazardous and non-hazardous waste is based on the system for the classification and labelling of dangerous substances and preparations, which ensures application of similar principles over the whole life cycle of materials.Medical Waste Guidance defines and categorizes solid medical waste in the following ways:General Waste (non-hazardous waste) – The bulk of most medical waste, mostly typical household and office waste (80%). This type of waste is generated at medical facilities is no different from general household or office waste, and includes paper, plastics, liquids and any other materials that do not fit into the previous three categories. Waste professionals refer to this as municipal solid waste, and it is usually disposed of in landfills.Hazardous Waste – Waste that’s dangerous for humans and environment like sharps, discarded surgical equipment, and some chemical waste

• Infectious Waste (also as hazardous waste) – Any waste that could cause an infection in humans, like blood, human tissue or anything contaminated with bodily fluids
• Pathological waste is included in the above categories but is designated separately because of the potential psychological impact on observers. It consists of recognizable tissues, organs, and body parts derived from animals and humans.
• Radioactive Waste – Any waste generated as a result of radioactive treatments, like cancer therapies, and medical equipment that uses nuclear elements.

Due to its specificity and potentially negative impact on the quality of the environment and human health, the effective management of medical waste is of the utmost importance, which is why the Law on Waste Management stipulates that the Medical Waste Management Plan should be specially drafted by the state administration body competent for managing the health system. The Ministry of Health has prepared a Plan for the management of medical waste for the period 2016-2020. The plan prescribes the manner and procedure for managing medical waste from healthcare institutions, primarily infectious, potentially infectious, chemical and pharmaceutical waste.The Government of Montenegro adopted the Study of the concession for the management of medical waste in Montenegro. The Concessionaire is obliged to classify, at source, collect and treat infectious, potentially infectious waste and sharp objects. Sterilized and ground waste is brought to a condition that satisfies all the conditions of storage at the landfill, thus preventing the risk to the environment and the health of the population.The concession study foresees that the treatment of medical waste will be carried out at the 8 Waste Treatment Centres in Kotor, Bar, Berane, Bijelo Polje, Pljjevlja, Niksic, Cetinje and Podgorica.In 2011 the Agreement was signed with the company Ekomedika for the period of 15 years. With the Agreement, the Concessionaire was obliged to collect, transport, treat and sterilize the generated medical waste, whereby after processing, the material would have the characteristics of non-hazardous waste. Two waste treatment centres are currently in operation in Podgorica and Berane, and the construction of the others will be implemented depending on the amount of medical waste produced.The volume of infectious waste during the COVID-19 outbreak is expected to increase, especially through the use of PPE. Therefore, it is important to increase capacity to handle and treat this health-care waste,  strengthening the country’s capacities capable to monitor, track and analyse the situation on the ground in relation to epidemics and at the same time safeguarding of human rights and protecting vulnerable and groups at risk.The Montenegrin health system is, according to most of the parameters that characterize it, a relatively small system and as such is suitable for the introduction and application of new knowledge and experience and relatively rapid transformation into a modern, high quality and efficient system capable of fully meeting the needs of end users. Namely, the network of public health institutions of Montenegro consists of 18 health centres and 3 health stations, 7 general hospitals, 3 special hospitals, the Clinical Center of Montenegro, the Institute of Public Health and the Pharmacy Institution of Montenegro.

Duties and Responsibilities

Objective of the assignment:The primary objective is to assess the current state of heath care waste management and disposal. Assessment of the current situation with the accent on short term storage and management of health care waste within public health institutions and based on the identified gaps to provide recommendations for improvement.

Job content:The consultant conducting the assessment will use comprehensive data collection tools including desk research, questionnaires, interviews that will generate enough data to be used for the assessment of health care waste management in Montenegro. The specific tasks in this assignment are the following:

• To analyze legal, policy, regulatory and institutional framework for health care waste management, including recommendations for the improvement in line with the EU requirements.
• Assess proper tracking of handling and disposal of health care waste and provide recommendations for the monitoring improvement.
• Propose how to monitor waste handling and disposal of the health care service providers from private sector.
• Develop the separate set of recommendations for proper monitoring and handling of the infectious waste contaminated by COVID 19 virus.
• Provide recommendations for protection measures for staff handling the health care waste followed by appropriate manual.
• Assessment of the temporary storages of health care waste within all medical service providers that are part of the public health care system and develop recommendations for the improvement of the facilities used for that purposes.

Time duration:The consultant is expected to start with activities in mid-June 2020, with a completion period until 15 September 2020, with up to 25 working days.

Travel:This assignment is home based.

Competencies

• Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
• Promotes the vision, mission and strategic goals of UN/UNDP;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
• Ability to lead strategic planning, results-based management and reporting;
• Builds strong relationships with clients, focuses on impact and result for the client and responds positively to feedback;
• Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
• Demonstrates good oral and written communication skills;
• Demonstrates ability to manage complexities and work under pressure, as well as conflict resolution skills. 

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Advanced University degree in chemistry, environmental science and management, or related fields.

Experience:

• Minimum of 10 years of experience in preparation of national reports and assessments related to the waste management, chemicals management.
• Experience in Policy/Regulatory and Institutional assessments.

Language:

• Fluency in English with exceptional writing, presentation and communication skills.
• Knowledge of Montenegrin language would be considered as an advantage.

Criteria for selection:

Combined Scoring method will be used. When using this weighted scoring method, the award of the contract should be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as: (i) responsive, compliant, acceptable, and (ii) having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.

• Technical criteria weight - 70% (Background and education 10%; Relevant previous experience 20%; Substantial knowledge/Required competencies 30%; Required language 10%);
• Financial criteria weight - 30%.

Only offerors obtaining a minimum 490 points for technical criteria will be considered for the financial evaluation. For more information on procurement methodology for Individual Contractors, please refer to Procurement Notice.

Application procedure:

Interested applicants are requested to submit their applications by June 3, 2020 by using the Apply now button. The application should contain CV or P11 that can be downloaded at http://www.me.undp.org/content/montenegro/en/home/operations/jobs.html. Please note that UNDP jobsite system allows only one uploading of application document, so please make sure that you merge all your documents into a single file.

Only the short-listed applicants will be contacted and requested to submit a letter of interest including a price quotation indicating the lump sum (in EUR) requested for the work envisaged in the section "Description of Responsibilities".