In line with the concerns of the global community, the PM and the new CEO of PGH, about climate change, the B.D. Petit Parsee General Hospital has taken several initiatives in the last couple of months, to become environment friendly. These include:
1. Use of Renewable Energy– Use of Solar Powered Geysers and utilization of the maximum available flat rooftop space of 2 buildings of the Hospital, to install Solar Panels to generate Solar Energy. The latter has been done with the CSR help of Sterling & Wilson Solar, who are global leaders in the field. This has reduced the carbon footprint, as well as electricity bills of the hospital. We have been actively composting all our green waste from the Kitchen and using the manure in our garden.
2. Natural Composting of all the green waste from the Kitchen and garden and use of only this organic manure in the hospital garden, has improved the quality and quantity of the topsoil. So no animal manure, or chemical fertilizer has been bought in the last couple of years for use in the garden.
3. Increasing Green Cover– When the present CEO joined 3 years back, a large, barren, rocky, parcel of land within the Hospital, was painstakingly converted into an urban organic Kitchen garden, in which organically grown vegetables, have been grown to only feed the patients. This especially came handy during the lockdown and continues to provide natural nutritional supplements in the patients’ diet. For growing this, the hospital is using its own composted manure and home-made bio-enzyme, in lieu of pesticides.
4. Another couple of barren parcels of land within the Hospital Compound has been used to plant fruit trees mostly grown in-house by the CEO, from the fruits eaten. The fruit grown organically, such as Papayas, Bananas etc. are all given to the patients’ Kitchen for the benefit of the patients. Since these plants have a limited lifespan, the 2nd and 3rd generation plants are now growing and propagating. Fruit trees like Mango, Guava, Coconut, Citrus, Custard apple etc, have been planted along the boundaries and should bear fruit in a few years.
5. Thus the iconic garden of PGH- is being further enhanced, so that our patients can breathe unpolluted, oxygen-rich air in the sylvan surroundings and get free naturopathy to improve their lungs and circulation, which is especially important in these Covid times. This increased greening of the hospital campus has added to the much needed “lungs of the city” and the fight against global warming.
6. Apart from natural Rainwater harvesting in the vast garden, the hospital has set up an STP/ETP (Sewage/Effluent treatment plant) in the Hospital, to recycle all the waste water. With this, 90% of the Waste water of the whole hospital, is recovered and recycled for use in the toilets and garden (thus recharging the underground aquifers also). This initiative (funded by donations), alongwith the rainwater harvesting, ensures that PGH is contributing in a big way to save water.
7. RUCO (Repurposed Used Cooking Oil) certification– Being environmentally conscious, PGH is the first Hospital to be RUCO certified, last year, whereby all waste oil is collected from the kitchen and given for repurposing into Biodiesel. This again reduces the carbon footprint of the hospital, as well as prevents this waste oil being poured into the drains, from where it eventually would end up in the sea and affect the marine life.
8. Repurposing old wood and use of old furniture- All the beams from demolished old buildings have been carefully preserved for years and this seasoned wood is being reused to replace all the old moisture ravaged doors, windows and frames of the hospital, in the major renovation works being carried out right now. All vintage furniture donated to the hospital are put to use in the hospital, thus practicing a circular economy.
9. So The B.D. Petit hospital is arguably the most environmentally conscious hospital in the country and contributing to its maximum, in the fight against climate change.