How blameless are hospitals in climate change? An example of a province in Turkey

Abstract

Starting from the 1970s, the discussion about the negative effects of human activity on the world has accelerated and with a increasingly raised voice and it has been noted that the natural balance of our world was being altered. The World Health Organization has focused its policies and directives on strategies aimed on dealing with climate change (and its impact on human health), and diseases related to air pollution and implementing health-related sustainable development goals in climate friendly-hospitals. Hospitals exist to treat patients, but they also pollute the environment because hospitals consume a lot of energy and water and produce hazardous waste. These organizations need to work hard to improve their carbon footprints. The study investigated practices at 21 public hospitals in Konya, Turkey. Results show that domestic waste was on average 54.83 tons per year, medical waste was 33.59 tons per year and packing waste was 24.36 tons per year. It was determined that medical waste disposal costs on average of 26,800 per annum, and the amount of medical waste per bed was 1.15 kilograms per annum. According to 2014 medical waste data the average medical waste per bed of these hospitals in Konya province is less than the average in Turkish public hospitals, in which it is 1.18 kilograms per bed. The hospitals in our study were found to be especially inadequate at water management and did not pay much attention to green practices.