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Posted on: July 23, 2018

Green Initiatives of Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust

The Trust has installed 2100 KW solar power plant that generates 3.5 million units of power annually,
preventing 65000 tons of carbon emission.

It saves 2.5 crores annually and plans to go completely green by 2020.

Part - 2

The seven-year-old Sail right from his birth was a sick child. When the doctors examined him, they confirmed that he has a hole in the heart.

Sail’s father worked as a labourer in Pakistan. Four lakh rupees was the cost of the operation to save his child. The desperate parents were devastated. It is at this time that someone told them to contact Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Medical Sciences (SSSIHMS) in Bengaluru which performed cardiac and neuro surgeries free of cost.

A Green Hospital Infuses New Life into Patients

In May 2012, Sail landed in Bengaluru with his mother and uncle. The moment he stepped inside the gate of SSSIHMS, the little one left the hands of his mother and ran cheerily across the beautiful lawns of the hospital shouting ‘Garden, garden!’

He had suddenly transformed into the lively bubbly boy that his mother longed to see. Actually he was tired, hungry, dusty, smelly – everything he should be after a six-day arduous journey from a remote village of Pakistan – still, the sight of those beautiful lawns and the gentle colours of the hospital building had as if infused a new life into his being.

Indeed, his healing had begun right from that moment itself. Needless to say, Sail had a successful operation and returned to his country healthy and smiling.

“The case of Sail is a classic one of what the ambience of the hospital does to a patient. It is for this reason that we take as good care of our lawns and greenery as we do of our patients,” says Dr Sundareshan, the Director of SSSIHMS, Bengaluru.

This 333-bedded tertiary care hospital has close to 600 trees of more than 30 species besides acres of lawn all around it. In 2017, it spearheaded the transplanting of 108 trees which were about to be felled by the local government for a new metro line construction.

This story was carried by the popular social good news portal yourstory.com - Read More

“When the patients look out of their windows, they should witness only green and breath in lungsful of oxygen,” asserts the Director. Maybe this partially explains the low infection rate of the hospital which is less than 1%.

Best Way to Beat Water Stress – Capture, Conserve and Circulate

But to maintain the greenery, you need copious water. In the last ten years, the population density of Bengaluru has increased by a whopping 47%. In 2018, it touched 11 million and the city is highly water-stressed.

With great foresight, 12 years ago itself SSSIHMS set up its own sewage treatment plant. This recycled water was used for flushing and gardening, saving 50,000 litres of water per day!

The rain water harvesting lake at SSSIHMS,WF

Not only this, in 2012, it embarked on a rain water harvesting project and created a 25 lakh-litre lake which collected every drop that fell on the roof of this building. Since then even when the entire city of Bengaluru reels of water shortage, their bore wells never go dry.

Super Specialty Hospital in Bengaluru Has Zero Power Bill, Thanks to Solar Power, the Government and Their Green Zeal

In January 2017 the hospital took another ‘green leap’ and set up its own 100 KW solar power plant. In 12 months it generated 1,40,000 units of energy.

“Our power consumption bill used to be close to 2.6 crores annually. The government gave us subsidy up to 2 crores as this is a completely charitable hospital, but we still had to pay 50-60 lakhs. Now with the installation of this power plant, we are saving 50 lakhs every year,” explains Praveen, special assistant to the Director.

Recognising the charitable work of the hospital, the government recently raised the subsidy to 3 crores to maybe offset the rising power tariffs. The hospital is now fully covered power-expenditure wise, still this has in no way diminished its zeal to go for clean energy as well as conserve every bit it can.

On a war footing it replaced its entire lighting system with 3000 LED tube lights, thus bringing down the lighting power load by 60%. This has led to Rs 50,000 worth of power consumption saved every month.

Similarly, it changed the motors and the ducting of its air-conditioning system which reduced the power requirement of the ICUs by 40%.

Thanks to these little steps, the hospital has been amply ‘green rewarded’ – it saves up to 10,000 units of energy every month which is close to 70,000 rupees.

Its renewable energy production and its power conservation measures has prevented 127.5 tons of carbon emission into the atmosphere.

SSSIHMS-BLR indeed is the first hospital in Bengaluru to embrace the light of the Sun to light up its wards and theatres. It is also the first hospital in Karnataka to have a 100 KW solar plant.

Go to Part 1 | Go to Part 3

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