ASSESSMENT OF ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT OF HOSPITALS IN KANGRA DISTRICT OF HIMACHAL PRADESH
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Date
2021-11
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UHF,NAUNI
Abstract
ABSTRACT
The current study, titled “Assessment of Ecological Footprint of Hospitals in Kangra District of
Himachal Pradesh,” was conducted in the year 2020-2021 in selected Kangra District hospitals in order to
evaluate the ecological footprint, which assessed the variety of different components, namely electricity, water,
solid waste and food stuff, imposed by the hospitals on the natural environment. Material and food stuff
components made the greatest impact to the hospital’s EF. Tanda hospital has the greatest EF (432.59 gha)
while Dhiman hospital had the lowest (104.3 gha). Sukhmani hospital had the highest per capita ecological
footprint (23×10-5 gha) while Balaji hospital had the lowest (38×10-5 gha). Sukhmani hospital had the biggest
ecological footprint (7.91 gha) for the electricity component while Tanda hospital had the lowest (0.63 gha). For
the water component, Vivekanand hospital had the highest EF of 0.75 gha and Sai Mahima Shukla hospital had
the lowest EF of 0.008 gha. As a result, Tanda hospital had the greatest (263.99 gha) EF and Navjeevan hospital
had the lowest (35.44 gha) EF for material component. Tanda hospital had the highest (54.4 gha) EF in the solid
waste component, whereas Navjeevan hospital had the lowest (54.4 gha) EF (0.09 gha). For the food
component, the maximum EF was observed in Vivekanand hospital (206.20 gha) and the lowest (48.74 gha) in
Zonal hospital. In comparison to other hospitals, Vivekanand Hospital had the highest level of sustainability.
Strategies for reducing the ecological footprint must be used in order to ensure sustainable resource utilisation.
To lower the EF of hospitals, hospital staff and doctors should be encouraged to implement: (i) Use renewable
energy and reduce energy consumption for example: Solar Panel, construct green building; (ii) control water tap
leak, use water efficient systems in washrooms, recycling of water; (iii) reduce paper consumption and moving
towards paperless administration; (iv) reduce food wastage; and (v) promote recycling and waste re-engineering.
Furthermore, increasing awareness and comprehension of this idea is required so that hospital staff and patients
understand the relationship between ecological footprint and biocapacity and how their behaviours affect their
ecological footprint.