The closing workshop of the technical assistance for the design of the Medical Faculty, the Centre for Education and Research, the Faculty of Health Care and the Secondary Medical School in the Medical Campus, was held on 3 December 2018 in Banja Luka. The technical assistance is funded by the European Union with €880,000 through the Western Balkans Investment Fund (WBIF) and it will be completed in December 2018 enabling the start of this significant investment for health and education sectors in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

With the finalization of this technical assistance, the project will be ready for implementation which should start in the second half of the 2019 aiming to provide better services to all citizens and healthcare staff of Republika Srpska. The project will also facilitate the provision of better medical education covering the spectrum from undergraduate to postgraduate studies and will develop a competitive Medical Research Centre opting to attain regional and international recognition for the Medical Faculty in Banja Luka.

During that meeting the signing of the Waste Management Policy Declaration prepared in the scope of the same technical assistance also took place. The Directors of the University Clinical Centre, the Medical Faculty and the Secondary Medical School, confirmed the joint action of their institutions for implementing the Integrated Waste Management Programme in Paprikovac. The programme will optimize sound and secured collection/destruction/disposal of municipal waste and healthcare waste (infectious, sharp, patho-anatomic, pharmaceutical, cytotoxic, chemical, heavy metal containing and radioactive waste streams). It will facilitate reduction of the frequency of medical accidents and epidemic cases resulting especially from the health care waste.

The end beneficiaries and all stakeholders expressed satisfaction with the project results and highlighted that the project will significantly contribute to the health and education sectors in Republika Srpska at all levels.

The European Union has provided through the WBIF €1.680 million in grants so far for the project preparation. The technical assistance is offered by the IPF4 Consortium led by COWI A/S of Denmark. The project implementation budget is approximately €47.5 million, including the construction and equipping of the facilities, which is planned to be funded by the European Investment Bank (EIB) in addition to local funds.