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CGH WINS SEAA
Changi General Hospital won the prestigious Singapore Environmental Achievement Award (SEAA) for the second time on 17 November 2003. The Singapore Environment Council’s sixth SEAA award ceremony was held in conjunction with Clean & Green Week 2003. Mr T K Udairam, Chief Executive Officer, CGH received the award from Mr Lim Swee Say, Minister for the Environment at the award ceremony held at Shangri-La Hotel.

The award was given to CGH for having shown good results in the environmental improvement of processes, products, or services through innovative means. By highlighting environmentally proactive organisations that have gone beyond legal compliance, SEAA aims to demonstrate to others the strong correlation between sound environmental management practices and the long-term viability of a business.

In November 1998, Changi General Hospital (CGH) was also awarded the ISO 14001 certification - the first hospital in Singapore to receive such an internationally recognised environmental standard. CGH also received the inaugural Singapore Environmental Achievement Award in 1999.

In 2002, CGH received the first prize in the New & Existing Building Category for both Building & Construction Authority (BCA) Energy Efficiency Awards and 2002 ASEAN Energy Efficient Building Best Practices. It also received the Green Leaf Award from National Environmental Agency in 2002.

“CGH has made caring for the environment a priority because it helps meet a need. Patients are often worried and frightened when they come to a hospital. CGH aims to transform its grounds into an environment that is conducive for healing. Through water and energy conservation, the hospital also aims to generate savings that can be channeled towards improving patient care,” said Mr T K Udairam, Chief Executive Officer, CGH.

The garden theme is applied at CGH to create a green and restful environment.
Mr T K Udairam, CEO receiving the Singapore Environmental Achievement Award from Mr Lim Swee Say, Minister for the Environment.

CGH’s Environmental Management System (EMS) monitors and continuously improves its environmental performance by implementing its environmental policy, programmes, monitoring systems, tests and maintenance measures.

One example is the Asian Productivity Organisation (APO) Green Productivity Demonstration Programme (GPDP) in 2002 that helped the hospital save $200,000 per year. A heat recovery system was installed using waste heat recovered from chillers to heat up water. This completely eliminated the need to use gas operated water heaters. Variable Speed Drives (VSD) and a chiller plant optimisation software were installed for cooling towers. Besides the GPDP programme, CGH has continuously worked on reducing its electricity consumption and saved 600,000 over the past 4 years.

The hospital has also extended its care for the environment beyond the hospital walls. Hospital staff together with grassroots leaders from Changi-Simei Community Centre Management Committee adopted the Bedok Reservoir Park under the National Parks Board’s Adopt-A-Park scheme on 8 November 1999. A hospital team of gardening enthusiasts designed the landscape and planted the shrubs and plants. Through this project, the hospital hopes to grow roots in the community.