Hospital Waste Management – Case Study “prof. dr. Eduard Apetrei” Hospital Buhuși

The sustainability of healthcare can be defined as the quality of the medical care activity that is carried out without depleting the available resources and without destroying the environment, so without negatively affecting the health of the population and that does not use the resources in a way that affects the ability of the next generation to provide medical care and without increasing the number of chronic conditions. Carrying out the medical activity involves enormous quantities of materials, energy, chemicals and water, resulting in large amounts of waste. Making healthcare more efficient can lead to the reduction in carbon emissions required by the Paris Agreement and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Healthcare is responsible for a number of negative environmental impacts, including greenhouse gas emissions, air pollution, plastic waste and pharmaceutical pollution of ecosystems through improper excretion and disposal. Evidence of the extent of these effects has increased in high-income countries. The science of health sustainability explores the dimensions of resource consumption and environmental emissions associated with healthcare activities. This emerging area provides tools and values to quantify the unintended consequences of healthcare delivery and to assess effective approaches that improve patient safety while protecting public health.