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Keywords

Healthcare, hazardous medical waste, sustainability, consumption, environment, alternativeenergy

Disciplines

Architecture | Business | Life Sciences | Medicine and Health Sciences

Abstract

Nowadays, an acute environmental crisis is leading to an increasing number of health crises worldwide. The healthcare sector itself contributes to this crisis through the waste it produces and the energy it consumes. To address this growing problem, several strategies are being developed that attempt to move away from polluting methods of waste disposal such as incineration to more environmentally friendly methods, such as wind turbines and hydropower. In this paper, I discuss the state of the healthcare sector in Lebanon and refer to the case of the New Mazloum hospital in Tripoli. Lebanon is a country with an aging population and a large healthcare sector reliant on polluting energy provision techniques, in part due to frequent electricity cuts. Waste disposal is problematic but several policies and interventions exist to mitigate pollution. The New Mazloum hospital has applied several interventions to dispose of medical waste in a more environmentally friendly way, through treatment policies, training, ways to avoid using polluting chemicals, and alternative energy solutions like solar energy. This shows that hospitals can at the same time respond to the increasing needs of the population related to climate change, and play a positive role in promoting sustainable energy and waste solutions.

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