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Indian hospitals prioritize on climate-conscious practices with natural light to reduce carbon footprint

Nandita Vijayasimha, Bengaluru
Friday, January 3, 2025, 08:00 Hrs  [IST]

Indian hospitals prioritize on climate-conscious practices with natural light to reduce carbon footprint. While a few hospitals are integrating climate-resilient designs, some facilities have incorporated rainwater harvesting, solar energy utilization, and efficient waste management systems.

As the world continues to grapple with climate change, hospitals will increasingly adopt eco-friendly practices. We can expect green roofs, energy-efficient buildings, and hospitals powered by renewable energy sources to become the norm. Moreover, on the tech side, we can expect telehealth to become even more deeply embedded, with virtual consultation centres as a standard feature, and more focus on hybrid care models that combine physical and digital health services, said Dr. Vivek Desai, founder & managing director, HOSMAC.

In 2024, hospital infrastructure focused on scalability and inclusivity. Many hospitals adopted zoned designs, where spaces were segmented for specific needs such as emergency care, outpatient services, and diagnostics for efficient workflows and reducing patient wait times. At the same time, layouts became more patient-centric, prioritizing natural light, calming environments, and smoother workflows to improve both patient recovery and staff efficiency, he added.

The real game-changer, however, was the rise of telemedicine and India witnessed a significant uptick driven by both urban convenience and rural necessity. Hospitals began dedicating spaces to telehealth consultations and integrating telehealth pods and remote diagnostic capabilities.

Looking ahead to 2025, the focus will shift to sustainability. However, such efforts are limited. Ideally, all healthcare infrastructure should prioritize sustainable architecture, but most hospitals still overlook these considerations, due to tight budgets and short-term planning. As India faces increasing climate vulnerabilities, the healthcare sector must standardize climate-conscious practices across all new builds and retrofits. Resilience is no longer optional, it’s essential to save lives during extreme weather events and reduce the healthcare sector’s own carbon footprint, Dr Desai told Pharmabiz.

The government has set a target to add 75,000 seats to medical colleges which will be in addition to the existing 110,000 seats available. This will definitely improve the doctor-patient ratio, but we will also need to increase the number of nurses and paramedics required to serve the upcoming hospitals, he noted.

The future is bright and it lies in rethinking hospitals as holistic wellness ecosystems, hospitals must become more than treatment centres; they should evolve into spaces that proactively promote health and well-being. Energy-efficient designs, AI-driven patient flow systems, and digital integration are what will define tomorrow’s hospitals. Additionally, hospitals of the future will focus on flexible infrastructure which is essentially spaces that can quickly transform to meet changing demands, whether for pandemics or seasonal surges in illnesses. Moreover, engineering solutions will increasingly address sustainability, ensuring healthcare facilities minimize waste and environmental impact while delivering high-quality care, he said.

With regards to HOSMAC which is engaged in hospital, management, design and consultancy, it witnessed steady growth in its business and the order book doubled. Majority of these orders came as designing medical education campuses across India. We are now aiming to improve efficiency of our design studio by using AI applications and have set up a separate software development division. We also intend to get into selective Design & Build assignments and test waters to see if this can be a logical extension of our capabilities, said Dr Desai.

 

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