Environment: Chief physician: Health system causes too high CO2 emissions

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The Swiss healthcare system is responsible for six to eight percent of the country’s total CO2 emissions, as Senn said in an interview with “Le Temps” published on Friday. The healthcare system would even absorb the entire CO2 budget if Switzerland wanted to comply with the Paris Climate Agreement.

Senn is head physician at the department of general medicine at the Unisanté University Health Center in Lausanne. He is also co-leader of the Sustainability and Health Platform at the Faculty of Biology and Medicine of the University of Lausanne.

He warned of the health consequences: “The ecological consequences of the health care system kill as many people as medical errors,” the chief doctor said.

According to him, emissions could be reduced by 60 to 70 percent, mainly by improving the energy efficiency of buildings. Senn also sees potential in renewable energy sources and less motorized traffic for staff and patients on the way to the hospital.

Hospitals are responsible for 75 to 80 percent of emissions in the healthcare sector. According to Senn, medication follows. They are said to be responsible for a third of CO2 emissions. For example, the treatment of diabetes produces ten to twelve kilograms of CO2 every year.

MRI treatments, i.e. magnetic resonance imaging, are particularly energy intensive. An MRI treatment alone produces 25 kilograms of CO2. “If you do two MRIs a year and take five medications, that’s the only amount of energy you can spend on your health to comply with the Paris Agreement,” Senn said.

(SDA)

Source:Blick