AIIMS to be made green hospital: Harsh Vardhan

The country's premier health facility All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) would be converted into a "green hospital", union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said Thursday.

The minister said the plan was based on the Centre's determination to fight climate change.

"For this to happen, the country's premier medical facility should move away from using conventional energy that is responsible for polluting environment and adding green house gases," Harsh Vardhan said at a function here.

The new-look AIIMS will have water conservation and waste water recycling systems in place, he added.

"The unattractive facade of government hospitals should become a thing of past. Beginning with the AIIMS-New Delhi, I want all public hospitals to resonate with inclusivity and enlightenment," Harsh Vardhan said.

The health minister said there was scant information available on the adverse impact on health caused by ecological and environmental deprivation at local, regional and national scale.

"The movement of masses and a sizable population of migrant labourers make this mission difficult without inter-sectoral and inter-state coordination," he added.

"The United Nations, the WHO and all international institutions have warned of the dangerous link between deteriorating environment and disease outcomes.

"We need to fight this negative impact by applying established tools to gather information and sharing it with community for involving them in this movement of creating healthy and safe environment," he said.