Dutch Ministry is sending half a billion euros to NVA for reducing anaesthesia fumes

The Dutch Society of Anaesthesiology (NVA) has been awarded a grant of half a million euros by the Ministry of Health Welfare and Sport to reduce CO₂-emissions from anaesthesia fumes within two and a half years. “This research budget will help us develop methods that make more sustainable use of anaesthesia vapours without compromising the quality of care,” the NVA said in a press release.

Anaesthesia vapours are strong greenhouse gases that are 440 to 6800 times stronger than CO₂, making them a major contributor to the greenhouse effect. “The healthcare sector is responsible for 7 percent of the Dutch CO₂ footprint,” Caroline van der Marel, president of the NVA, told the press release. “Within the hospital, the OR complex is the most polluting department. As a professional profession, we like to take our responsibility by contributing to making the OR more sustainable. Therefore, we are extremely happy that the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport has made funding available for more research into more sustainable use of anaesthesia fumes,” van der Marel says.

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Niek Sperna Weiland, anaesthesiologist at Amsterdam UMC and chair of the NVA Sustainability Working Group, is also positive about the grant award. “As NVA, together with the National Green OR Network, we want to bring about a transition within operating theatres so that our carbon footprint decreases.”