The Ministry of Health and the Spanish Society of Anesthesiology, Resuscitation and Pain Therapeutics (SEDAR) announced last Thursday their adherence to the Glasgow Sustainability Declarationof theESAIC, a pioneering European initiative that seeks to reduce the carbon footprint and promote sustainability in anesthesiology and intensive care. He was present at this event Hector Tejeroresponsible for Health and Climate Change of the Ministry of Health, who grants an interview to ConSalud.es to talk about this initiative and other priorities on the roadmap of his work team.
Could you briefly tell us how the accession was forged and what exactly the Glasgow Sustainability Declaration is based on?
Last April, Minister Mónica García announced at the National Congress of the Spanish Society of Anesthesiology, Resuscitation and Pain Therapeutics (SEDAR) the creation of a Green Anesthesia Working Group which will be launched in the coming weeks. At that congress, we came into contact with members of the Sustainability Committee of the European Association of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care (ESAIC), who proposed that the Ministry of Health support the Glasgow Declaration.
“The Glasgow Declaration on Sustainability in Anesthesiology and Intensive Care raises the need to move towards sustainable healthcare systems with low environmental impact by promoting a series of measures”
The Glasgow Declaration on Sustainability in Anesthesiology and Intensive Care raises the need to move towards systems sustainable healthcare and low environmental impact, promoting a series of measures that range from reducing healthcare waste or increasing recycling rates or reducing the use of the most polluting anesthetic gases and promoting techniques with lower impact such as low flows or optimizing the electrical consumption of operating rooms and opt for low-consumption equipment.
The Government of Spain is the first to adhere to it. Is it a declaration of intent about the concern and focus that the Ministry of Health has on the environmental sustainability of the health system?
The Government of Spain and the Ministry of Health have shown a strong commitment to decarbonization and environmental sustainability and, without a doubt, supporting this declaration is another example of said commitment. A step forward to continue promoting a culture of environmental awareness and responsibility among healthcare professionals. Now it is time to continue moving in that direction both in the field of anesthesia and in other environmental impacts of the Health System.
Where is Spanish healthcare currently in terms of impact on the carbon footprint?
It is estimated that the global health system accounts for 5% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Spain, according to data from the NGO ‘Health Without Harm’is among the countries with emissions slightly above the average, in line with the European Union and below the most emitting health systems such as Australia, the United States, Germany, etc.
An important tool is the Health and Climate Change Observatory of which it is a part. How would you define this body, as well as its functions and objectives?
The Health and Climate Change Observatory is an inter-ministerial coordination body between Health, the Ministry of Ecological Transition and Sciences and Universities. The idea is to coordinate, from a single government agency, the evidence and public policies associated with the impacts that climate change has on health.
The Observatory works by creating working groups where researchers, members of the administration and also civil society participate to address different areas of the relationship between health and climate change.
This ranges, for example, from promoting basic epidemiological research in research centers to improving alert systems in case of heat waves of public administrations, advise social agents to adapt labor legislation to new climate impacts or compile best practices so that cities and municipalities are better adapted to climate change from a health perspective.
The Observatory works by creating working groups where researchers, members of the administration and also civil society participate to address different areas of the relationship between health and climate change: for example, extreme temperatures or occupational health. In the coming months we will continue creating new groups.
Detecting the needs and possible improvements in the sustainability of the health system is the first step, then solutions must be provided. What tools does the Ministry have to achieve this?
The Ministry has many powers to move towards the sustainability of the Health System. A few months ago we announced that we will modify the regulatory framework to introduce a commitment to decarbonize the National Health System before 2050. We are also working to introduce the environmental impact of drugs in the next reform of the Law on Guarantees and Rational Use of Medicines and health products and in the Pharmaceutical Industry Strategy. At another level, the Ministry can and must lead the ecological transition of the National Health System, sending clear signals to the rest of the actors that make it up: Autonomous Communities, health professionals, scientific societies, etc.
The Ministry’s task is, in my opinion, to collect all that experience and those good practices that are already underway, make them known and try to extend them well through its direct powers, its example and its leadership.
I believe that an important task that we must assume is to provide direction and coordination to this task. Spain is a country with a Decentralized SNS and that has allowed there to be many individual people, many health centers and some regional systems that are already moving towards sustainability on their own. The Ministry’s task is, in my opinion, to collect all that experience and those good practices that are already underway, make them known and try to extend them well through its direct powers, its example and its leadership.
The awareness of regional officials, health managers, professionals and even patients themselves is essential, isn’t it? Do you consider that there is this determined commitment, at all levels, in our country?
Some more than others, as always happens, but my general feeling is that the health sector is generally aware of the threat posed by climate change with health and eager to be a fundamental actor in the ecological transition, both by reducing the environmental impact of its sector and by helping to raise awareness among people and other sectors of the need to abandon fossil fuels quickly, orderly and fairly.
How do you value these months in your work responsible for Health and Climate Change at the Ministry of Health? What experiences would you highlight?
I believe that by collecting the previous work of many of the units of the Ministry of Health, the current team is managing to place Spain as one of the references in terms of environmental sustainability of the health system. There is still much to do, but I believe the Minister and her team have shown the unequivocal will to move forward in that direction. Personally, I can only be grateful for the opportunity to be part of this task and push a little towards a fairer, healthier and less warm world than possible.