ASSESSMENT OF ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT OF HOSPITALS IN SOLAN TOWN OF HIMACHAL PRADESH
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Date
2021-11
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UHF,NAUNI
Abstract
ABSTRACT
The study entitled “Assessment of Ecological Footprint of hospitals in Solan Town of
Himachal Pradesh” was carried out during 2020-2021 in selected hospitals (1 government & 3 private) in
order to assess the ecological footprint which appraised the load of different components namely
electricity, water, food, material, transportation and biomedical waste, imposed by the hospitals on the
natural environment. The total ecological footprint of all four hospitals of Solan town viz., Regional
Hospital, Shiva Hospital, City Hospital and Sai Sanjivni Hospital was 1553.75 gha, 100.10 gha, 165.44
gha and 185.31 gha respectively. Highest EF (1553.75 gha) was noticed for Regional Hospital having
comparatively large population i.e. 2034 and lower (100.10 gha) for Shiva Hospital having comparatively
smaller population i.e. 167. Transportation and Material components registered the highest contribution
towards the EF of the hospitals and lowest contribution was made by Biomedical Waste and Electricity
components. The maximum EF per capita (6.02 gha) was exhibited by Sai Sanjivni Hospital and minimum
(0.75 gha) by Regional Hospital. Component wise, the maximum ecological footprint (1.59 gha) for
electricity component was observed for Regional Hospital and minimum (0.61 gha) for City Hospital. For
water component, highest EF i.e. 5.184 gha was observed for Shiva Hospital and lowest i.e. 0.004 gha for
City Hospital. For Food component only Regional Hospital accounts for food footprint 104.6 gha because
of presence of canteen over there. For material component, Regional Hospital highest (374.13 gha) EF and
Shiva Hospital, the lowest (6.39 gha). In case of transportation component, Regional Hospital accounts
highest ecological footprint (1068.98 gha) and City Hospital, the lowest (75.154 gha). ). For biomedical
waste component, highest EF was of Regional Hospital (1.5768 gha), whereas lowest was reported by City
Hospital having value of about 0.000032 gha. Average EF of all selected hospitals was found 2004.6 gha,
average per capita EF was 3.31 gha and Average bio-capacity of hospitals was 0.00095.