Green Dialysis From the Indian Perspective: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Global warming and climate change represent the most significant threats to humanity in the 21st century, both of which are manmade catastrophes. Addressing climate change requires corrective action across all aspects of modern human life and work, including the medical field. Among healthcare sectors, dialysis units stand out as major contributors to plastic waste and excessive water consumption. It is imperative for hemodialysis units to lead by example in the judicious use of natural resources. This systemic review is aimed to establish a bare minimum of recommendations for environmental sustainability across Indian dialysis units, and to guide future initiatives to reduce the environmental impact of dialysis process. A literature search was conducted on PubMed, and Google to retrieve articles or studies related to green dialysis. The predefined keyword search yielded a total of 291 studies. A total of 54 studies and articles which were relevant to study question, and fulfilled inclusion criteria, were retrieved and analyzed to form opinions on the implementation of green dialysis initiatives from an Indian perspective. Green dialysis initiatives are much-needed reforms to be adopted by the Indian dialysis community. Through careful planning and minimal efforts, substantial amounts of water used in hemodialysis can be conserved and repurposed for other hospital activities. Similarly, the vast majority of discarded plastic waste can be recycled or reused. Despite controversy, reconsidering the risk-benefit aspects of dialyzer reuse is essential, particularly in the context of resource-limited developing nations like India.

Keywords: climate change; dialyzer reuse; eco-dialysis; global warming; green dialysis; hemodialysis.