With the changing demographics, growth in the healthcare sector is certain. But can we grow sustainably? Is it feasible? What are the interventions required? These were some of the questions in front of our panelists.
We had some of the most experienced people from the best healthcare organizations in Chennai, and below is a synopsis of their thoughts:
Dr. Sandhya Cherian, Vice President, Frontier Lifeline Pvt. Ltd. Hospitals, explained the list of initiatives taken by Frontier Hospitals towards sustainability. The future of hospitals will be smart by leveraging technologies like AI, IoT, and data analytics to optimize operations, enhance patient care, and improve overall healthcare delivery.
Mr. seshadri narayanan, VP Engineering at Apollo Hospitals, mentioned how Apollo standardises sustainable initiatives across their chain of hospitals through the Apollo Sustainability Action Plan (ASAP) and has an online data-driven monitoring framework to take informed, data-driven decisions.
Ar. Kosalraman CJ, AIA, LEED AP, FIIA, LLB, LSSBB, Principal Architect & MD, Infrabees Project Management Consultants Pvt Ltd Project Management Consultants emphasized the importance of envelope design and leak proofness for an energy efficiency hospital. He also mentioned about Average Length of Stay (ALOS) of a patient in a hospital and its importance in architectural design.
Mr. Suraj Sujathan, Chief Operating Officer, SIMS Hospital (SRM Institutes For Medical Science), shared that the challenge in adopting sustainability often lies not in intent, but in knowing where to start. He emphasized viewing sustainability as an operational advantage, not just a compliance goal. At SIMS, initiatives like digitization, energy monitoring, and process-level audits are already helping integrate sustainability into everyday operations.
Mr. Balakrishnan R, VP & Head MEP Design, Building & Factories at Larsen And Toubro Construction, voiced how L&T continuously improves sustainability and high performance by referring to their use cases. L&T, on average, works on one hospital project per month and has a repository of used cases that they try and beat with every project.
Mr. Biswanath Sen, Head HVAC & Mechanical, Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR) and President ASHRAE Tamil Nadu Chapter, explained the importance of Standards and Codes in Hospital MEP design and the role ASHRAE has played in creating standards towards sustainability and energy efficiency.
It is interesting to note that most of what the experts say above is seamlessly captured in the IGBC Green Health Care Certification program. The Certification Program has the potential to become the Gold Standard (nay, the Platinum Standard) of the Healthcare Industry.
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