SUSTAINABILITY
Figure 3. The Hospital Sultanah Maliha Langkawi was Malaysia’s first to achieve ‘Green building’ certification under the globally recognised LEED Standard.
Four hospitals achieve LEED Gold Four Malaysian hospitals have been awarded LEED Gold certification, while another two have managed to achieve Platinum level under the globally recognised LEED standard (Fig 2). Hospital Langkawi, on Langkawi Island in Kedah, was the first government hospital to register itself under the LEED green building certification programme (existing building operation and maintenance category, EBOM), and received Gold certification in 2020 (Fig 3). The hospital has set the pace and precedent for other government hospitals to pursue the green building pathway, which is part of a 2030 MOH masterplan to decarbonise government healthcare facilities. Prior to this, two private healthcare establishments had been certified ‘green’ to the regional Green Building Index (GBI) Malaysian green building certification system.
Energy projects Malaysia’s Ministry of Health (MOH) has implemented a significant number of energy projects to further decarbonise and reduce the health service’s carbon footprint. Major key energy projects include upgrading inefficient and ageing chillers to magnetic bearing chillers or solar chillers, switching to LED lighting, installing solar thermal hot water systems, and small-scale solar PV, as well as solar tube chimneys for daylight harvesting. These energy schemes were either undertaken via conventional methods, or through the Energy Performance Contracting (EPC) process. Figure 4 shows the first EPC project, which was implemented at the Teluk Intan Hospital in 2017. To date 11 energy projects and 32 EPC-based projects have been completed, while another 12 projects are still ongoing. Figure 5 shows part of a solar thermal hot water system that was commissioned at Miri Hospital in Sarawak in 2020. In addition to these schemes, other mechanisms have also been also deployed to implement energy projects in healthcare facilities, utilising both internal and external funds. An example of external
20 Health Estate Journal August 2023
Figure 4: A chiller retrofit at Hospital Teluk Intan involved applying variable-speed, oil-free centrifugal chillers with magnetic bearings.
funding was the energy efficiency funding provided by the Malaysian Energy Ministry (MESTECC). MESTECC has been actively implementing energy efficiency projects in the country involving retrofit work at 50 government-owned buildings, including hospitals, with energy efficiency technology worth RM 200 (£36.6 m). It has been widely accepted that hospital buildings have been identified as one of the highest energy users in the country, which explains and justifies the scale of effort at a national level to retrofit energy efficiency technology in such buildings. Another approach to make available and expand the use of renewable energy in the healthcare sector is to allow independent energy providers (IPPs) to build and operate facilities to generate electricity – particularly solar PV systems (SPS) – within hospital property boundaries, and sell it to the hospital concerned at a competitive rate. Such arrangements are enabled via a solar power purchase agreement guide that provides a framework and structured renewable
energy agreement to enable solar PV installation programmes in healthcare facilities. Such developments will not only help the transition towards renewable energy sources, but will also be crucial in helping Malaysia achieve its goal of being ‘carbon neural’ by 2050.
The ‘next generation’ of maintenance staff and managers The ever-changing healthcare environment requires focused training for the next generation of facilities management staff in healthcare facilities. A Certified Healthcare Facility Manager (CHFM) training programme has therefore been introduced into the Malaysian healthcare facility management sector through collaboration with local universities. The training programme was designed to ensure that FM companies in the healthcare sector – both public and private sector – have the knowledge, skills, and professionalism, to carry out FM activities efficiently. The modules and training content were designed and
Figure 5: The solar thermal hot water supply system at Hospital Miri Sarawak.
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