The Lancet Commission on Climate and Health has previously called for the health-care community to take a leadership role in advocating for emissions reductions, and to critically examine its own activities with respect to their effects on human and environmental health.
As the leading advocate for surgical standards, professionalism and surgical education in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand, RACS supported these calls. In recent years the environmental sustainability of surgical practice has become an increasing advocacy priority for RACS, and the College had developed a dedicated Environmental Sustainability in Surgical Practice Working Party (ESSPWP).
Surgeons and other healthcare professionals will play a critical role in reducing the emissions of healthcare, as well as preparing and building resilience into the sector. We therefore support the development of a module that is available and promoted to the entire sector.