ASOURCE Times

Spread from public hospitals to private clinics

SDGs stands for “Sustainable Development Goals” and is a common goal of the international community set by 193 member countries of the United Nations to achieve in the 15 years from 2015 to 2030. It was set at the United Nations Summit in September 2015. It consists of 17 goals (Fig. 1) and 169 targets (achievement criteria) in total, including poverty and hunger countermeasures, health and welfare.

The number of medical institutions working to achieve SDGs is increasing, from public hospital organizations such as the Japanese Red Cross Society and the Social Welfare Organization Saiseikai to national and private university hospitals, medical corporations and social welfare corporations, and individual clinics and dental clinics. Small medical institutions have also announced their efforts.

One of the 17 goals, "3. Health and welfare for all," is the goal that all medical institutions should aim for, but other than that, "7. Energy for everyone and clean." Aiming to achieve this, activities such as vaccine support by collecting PET bottle caps, idling stop of medical cars, and reduction of energy loss by introducing electric cars are being carried out. In addition, as "12. Responsibility to make and use", there are activities such as providing hospital foods that are conscious of local production for local consumption by using locally produced ingredients, and regularly using disaster stocked ingredients to eliminate waste due to expiration of the expiration date. ..

Supporting women's health for life

While the efforts are being made at each hospital in this way, the Sato Hospital, which is a business trip to the obstetrics and gynecology department, is making unique efforts.

Sato Hospital is an obstetrics and gynecology hospital with a history of about 270 years since the Edo period. It delivers about 1,500 deliveries a year, performs about 100 laparoscopic surgeries, and also provides infertility treatment. In addition, NPO corporations for cervical cancer prevention enlightenment and general incorporated associations that support mothers are also active as a group of the hospital. In recognition of this "contributing to the creation of a healthy society for all women as a specialized hospital for women's lives," the "SDGs Partnership Award (Special Award)" was held at the 2nd Japan SDGs Awards in 2018. Was awarded. The SDGs Promotion Headquarters, which was set up in the Prime Minister's Office, commends companies and organizations that make excellent efforts every year.

The website of Sato Hospital simply shows the hospital's efforts to achieve the SDGs (Fig. 2). As an obstetrics and gynecology hospital, local governments and local educational institutions, with the main goals of "3. Health and welfare for all," "4. Quality education for everyone," and "5. Achieve gender equality." It can be seen that they are carrying out activities to achieve their goals in collaboration with companies.

What is interesting is that none of the activities were started with the achievement of the SDGs in mind. He noticed that the various efforts he had made so far naturally overlapped with his philosophy. As a result, it can be said that many years of activities have been concentrated on the idea of SDGs.

Accumulation of achievements toward goals is important

Regarding the current situation where such efforts by medical institutions are increasing, one hospital manager said, "It is important to re-examine the operation of hospitals from scratch with the SDGs as the keyword." It should be an opportunity for doctors, nurses, comedics, and clerical staff to review their daily work and think about how to contribute to patients, their families, and the community as medical professionals.

After learning about the existence of the SDGs at Sato Hospital, we looked back on the efforts we have made based on the philosophy of "a society in which all women are healthy and the creation of a healthy next generation." Instead of starting something new, he found what was missing from the existing efforts and added it to clarify the goals for achieving it. It can be said that it is important to accumulate daily achievements with goals, not words or concepts, in order to achieve the goals of the SDGs that we have set ourselves.