Developing Sustainability Rating System for Healthcare Facilities: Focus on Egypt

Abstract

Healthcare is one of the core operating sectors all over the world with a designated Goal 3: Good Health and Well-being of the international Sustainable Development Goal (SDG), while three other goals addressed the eradication of causes of healthcare problems. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimated the increase of healthcare expenditure to be $2 - $4 Billion USD by the year 2030 as a result of Climate change. As a developing country, Egypt has a fast-growing healthcare sector, which is a good opportunity to direct the sector towards a more sustainable development scheme to reduce the cost of the service, while maintaining a high service level for the patience and reducing the environmental impacts of operation, which are the pillars of sustainable development. The aim of the work presented is to develop sustainability rating system for new and existing healthcare facilities suitable to the Egyptian context that encourages the facilities to operate more sustainably using the concept of cradle-to-cradle resources management. The rating system developed is based on a points system with the awardable levels of achievement: Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum. The points divided among three main categories: Energy, Water and Habitat, and additionally, two general prerequisites are added for the top management commitment towards sustainability and developing an environmental management plan. The system divides the facilities into new and existing, with each type having different awardable points that take into consideration the differences in applicability between the two types of facilities.