Dr Uwe Heckert, Managing Director of Philips DACH, has presented his views to how to make sustainable health a topic, in the interview to Dup-Magazine (link in German)
Dr Heckert addresses the question of the responsibility by the health industry. “A sustainable rethinking is needed, he explains, preserving our health at the expense of the environment doesn’t work.”
With climate change, extreme weather events are increasing, the atmosphere is heating up and ecosystems are changing. And people feel the consequences directly. “Deteriorating environmental conditions have both direct and indirect effects on our health. That’s why we have to do everything we can to make the supply climate-friendly as quickly as possible,” says Heckert.
So how can medicine be achieved for all without causing even more CO2 emissions? One option would be the circular economy – an important concept in the context of environmental sustainability. Currently, only 8.6 percent of global production is based on circular economy principles. With the help of such models, however, global emissions could be reduced by up to 40 percent.
Transformation processes are a challenge that unsettles many people at first. Change management is therefore all the more important. “If those involved are not taken along from the start, digitization and sustainability projects can quickly fail,” says Heckert. Whether change processes succeed depends on acceptance and motivation.
Hospitals that have understood this create a culture of continuous learning and spaces in which everyone involved shapes digitization and sustainability together. They encourage employees to accept challenges. The greater the confidence in being able to keep up with the new requirements, the greater the willingness to change.
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