Columbia Asia referral Hospital Yeshwanthpur initiates massive campaign to become plastic free hospital

by Suman Gupta

Bangalore,  January 2020: Keeping in mind the health hazard of plastic and its impact on our environment, Columbia Asia referral Hospital, Yeshwanthpur has launched a year-long anti-Plastic campaign at the hospital. The focus of this drive is to replace plastic usage and create awareness about the negative impact of the use of plastic on the environment and how beneficial it is to switch to sustainable alternatives among the hospital staff and neighbourhood.

As a part of this initiative the hospital has removed all the plastic covers used in Pharmacy for dispensing the medicines and has replaced with paper covers. Implementing this drive, the hospital has taken up eco-friendly measure which included distribution of steel bottles to all its staff.

Dr. Ananth Rao, General Manager Columbia Asia Referral Hospital said “We are pleased to take this first step and would like to reduce the maximum use of plastic in our hospital. Our initiative focuses on persuading our staff and neighbourhood to give up use of plastic and look out for alternatives. It is very important for us to think about our future generations. We should implement as many as eco-friendly initiatives around us and avoid all the plastic-based materials. We hope to inspire people to avoid usage of plastic and take a step closer towards healthy and eco-friendly environment”.

The hospital also conducted exhibition for all the departments which included display of posters and models prepared by the staff working in various departments, question and answer rounds, describing the innovative ideas.

There was also brainstorming sessions which focused on reduction and replacement of plastics. The staff shared biodegradable ideas like replacement of plastic ID’s with wooden ID cards, organic sanitary napkins made of banana fiber, reusable silicon bags instead of plastic bags and box, bamboo straws,Coconut shell, steel cups,  silicon baby feeding bottles, steel bedpans instead of plastic, wooden combs and wooden toothbrush, plastic dustbins to metal bins, plastic flower pots to be replaced with clay pots, canned water bottles  with ozonized water supply, recycling vacutainer tube, reagent bottles, urine bottles and ESR pipettes.

The posters and models were judged on the basis of innovation, presentation skills and the best idea was awarded with the prize.

About Columbia Asia India: Columbia Asia is an international private healthcare company founded by an American entrepreneur, Mr. Daniel Baty in 1996. From the outset, Columbia Asia envisioned to provide quality, affordable healthcare services easily accessible to the community – driven by our vision statement, a passion for making people better.

Today, Columbia Asia operates 11 hospitals in India located in the cities of Bangalore, Mysore, Kolkata, Delhi NCR (Ghaziabad and Gurgaon), Pune and Patiala.

With 100 to 200 beds per hospital, it leverages modern technology to provide efficient specialist care and to reduce the length of hospital stays, which results in more cost-effective care. The hospitals of Columbia Asia provide a wide array of specialist services such as General Surgery, Paediatrics, Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Orthopaedics, Internal Medicine, Oncology, Cardiology, Neurosurgery, Bariatric surgery; and super specialist services in Transplantations (Liver, Kidney and Heart), Oncology, Cardiac surgery, Robotic Surgeries (Urology, Gastroenterology, Gynaecology), etc.  Some of the hospitals also provide specialized services like paediatric neurodevelopment and DBS (Deep Brain Stimulation). These are appropriately supported by ancillary services that include an Intensive Care Unit, Neonatal Care Unit, Physiotherapy, Laboratory, Pharmacy and Imaging.

At Columbia Asia, strict clinical governance, ethics and clinical excellence is a TOP PRIORITY.