Special Issue Article Open Access

Barriers To Implement Green Supply Chain Management In Indian Hospitals

Abstract

Hospitals play an important role in protecting the health of a nation. However they also have an unhealthy side – inadvertently contributing to illness and pollution by exposing patients and staff to toxins from building materials, medical waste, hospital supplies and cleaning products that consequently puts pressure on hospital supply chains. The hospital waste management is of immense importance due to its infectious and hazardous nature that can cause many effects on human health and the environment. Government regulations and public awareness regarding hospital waste issues have forced hospital units to adopt some strategies for managing this waste. The new technologies and instruments have been developed to handle hospital wastes. In response to these pressures some hospitals have initiated Green supply chain management practices. Green supply chain management integrates Environmental Management and Supply Chain Management. It has gained popularity in organizations with objectives of reducing waste and preserving the quality of product-life and the natural resources. In this work the potential barriers that prevent the greening effort of the hospital waste sector in India was analyzed and modeled by using Interpretive Structural Modeling (ISM) technique.

M. Aruna, G. R. Boobalan