Union government has adopted the 'Green Hospital' concept for all its medical centres including the six All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) facilities coming up in the country. This is in a bid to save the rising electricity consumption at the hospitals. The government is now convinced that the implementation of 'Green Architecture' and 'Green Engineering' are viewed as the best options to economise costs.

Power charges constitute almost 60 per cent of the annual expenditure for high-end tertiary-care hospitals with 300 plus beds. In fact this cost is directly related to patient care covering ICU, radiology and diagnostics in addition to OPD and IPD. Efforts to ensure a sterile and clean environment accounts for huge power consumption. .

Energy is a significant expense component for healthcare providers after manpower and consumables costs. This clearly signifies the opportunity for hospitals to cut costs and also contribute to reducing the ecological carbon foot print. That is why the hospitals under construction should adopt the 'Green Hospital' concept to make maximum use of natural light and solar energy. In fact those hospitals which have taken on the Green Design route have saved between Rs 50 lakh and Rs 1 crore on power bills, Dr Vivek Desai, managing director, Hosmac India told Pharmabiz.

There are several options for hospitals to cut their power cost. But a Green Hospital is the most effective solution to reduce dependency on power and cut operational costs. Nine months ago, Hosmac conducted a survey of hospitals across Mumbai, Bangalore, Delhi & Kolkata to collate information regarding consumption of electricity per bed across hospitals and to recommend the role of Green Hospitals in reducing power use. Hospitals with a high dependence on artificial lighting spent more than 3 times as compared to hospitals depending on natural lighting systems. Hospitals which have higher level of technology spend four times more than those with basic technology infrastructure. The survey revealed that Bangalore hospitals ranked second in terms of electricity consumed per bed per day after Mumbai which is around to Rs 459 per bed per day as compared to other cities.

Following the survey, hospitals geared up to take on green architecture and engineering solutions to addresses concerns of energy efficiency, use clean energy resources, improved indoor environment through usage of green building materials and maximizing the use of controlled day lighting, encouraging recycling and waste prevention/management strategies and designing in ways that promote good building operations practices.

Indian hospitals have also documented evidences on energy conservation, reducing electricity utilization by 27 per cent and saving up to Rs 40 lakh rupees per annum. These interventions comprised of using solar energy, efficient lighting, installing efficient air conditioning systems, zoning hospital and reducing wastage.

Jehangir Hospital, Pune saved Rs 46.25 lakh with an investment of mere Rs 27.95 lakh through its innovative strategies reduced electrical energy consumption by 12.66 per cent, Water energy consumption by 53.9 per cent, specific energy consumption for air conditioning reduced by 17.9 per cent and on lighting by 5.99 per cent.

Kovai Medical Centre and Hospital, Coimbatore, monitored energy utilization, upgraded technology and adapted new technology and emphasized on the use of renewable energy resources, considerably reduced its spending on energy.

Other hospitals which are now taking on the Green Design route are Breach Candy, Jaslok and Hinduja in Mumbai; Batra Hospital in New Delhi. Fortis and Apollo too have adopted these initiatives to save power costs at the existing facilities.

Hosmac is now a consultant for Green Hospital initiative for Alexis Hospital in Nagpur and Kohinoor Hospital in Mumbai and Unkal Medical Centre in New Delhi.