ESG in Healthcare: The story of SEHA Healthcare

By Bassem Hamdan (CEO, SEHA) and Dr. Ola Torkey (Quality Manager, SEHA)

Inspired by the idea that “every life action, echoes in our eternity,” we believe that our pursuit of success, and our achievements should have an impact on the lives of our community colleagues, with whom we work, patients we serve and our entire community; all of whom are at the heart of our system.

The world has faced a lot of challenges in the last decade. Globalization has left a lot of people behind, the COVID-19 pandemic has permanently altered our sense of stability, a further breakthrough in different technological advancements, and the recent macro-economic turmoil. These problems motivate all sectors of society, including the private sector, to confront these challenges and realize the promise of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) framework is an important strategy to help businesses and investors understand how they may manage the risks and possibilities associated with sustainability challenges. Implementing this perspective beyond risk management, and applying it to the SDGs' goals, can drive innovation and produce long-term benefits for both business and society.

SEHA Healthcare (“SEHA”) adopts a transformational vision in a high human-impact industry, and we aim to deliver a positive experience for our patients. In partnership with Carepoint, we are committed to tackling inequity and inequality in access to quality healthcare in Egypt. SEHA serves a diverse population, including young people and refugees, allowing them to receive care without prejudice.

Furthermore, in implementing the environmental pillar of ESG at SEHA, our procurement committee focuses on purchasing healthcare products and devices that meet environmental and social standards. Mercury-free devices, such as digital thermometers, digital barometers, dental amalgam, and LED light bulbs are our key focus, as these devices are environmentally friendly while performing the same technical function as those containing added mercury. The use of mercury-free products and devices eliminates the risk of mercury exposure, which could cause negative health effects on our staff and the environment at large.

In addition to patronizing healthcare products and devices which are environmentally friendly, we are also committed to reducing our contribution to carbon emissions and to achieve this commitment, we have established an internal task force on the green health system. The task force implements multiple initiatives, including, but not limited to (i) ensuring that our employees make use of paperless communication; (ii) establishing the use of electronic medical records in our facilities; and (iii) engaging in a commitment to revisit our travel and transportation policies, which will help us move towards a net zero emission target.

As well as reducing carbon emissions, SEHA also engages in social commitments. For example, we have signed partnerships with non-government organizations (“NGOs"), which help low-income patients access quality healthcare. Through these partnerships, we provide healthcare to patients at a reasonable or significantly reduced cost, having the NGO split the cost of care with the patient. Our commitment goes further, as we have also provided free medical care to certain low-income patients, as part of our supporting projects.

Our social commitment transcends the work we do to advance the interest of our patients. We are also determined to improve the well-being of our employees. The medical field is overwhelming for medical professionals, who deal with a lot of pressure to succeed, both in their career trajectory and in providing high-quality care to their patients. As part of our social commitment to our colleagues at SEHA, we established a plan to invest in the mental health and well-being of our employees in 2023.

This plan includes initiatives to establish physically and psychologically safe workplaces for our employees. Thus, we have implemented a strict zero-tolerance policy against discrimination. This means that we can attract and retain a stable workforce that is representative of the community we serve, with skills that are matched to our current and future demands across clinical, educational, and corporate support functions

As we prepare for the future, SEHA is aware of the difficulties in the healthcare sector. Hence, we have made a conscious effort to establish an effective ESG strategy and implement this strategy in our goals. These goals include (i) the conversion of our lighting system to LED as a part of the broader energy management programme, (ii) supporting front-line digitization of clinical records, and clinical and operational workflow, and (iii) improving communications, aided by digital messaging and electronic health and care record systems.

Our commitment to developing and implementing various sustainability strategies remains resolute and we will continue to lead the pace of ESG implementation in the healthcare sector. The journey is long, but we stay committed to our goals.

Valentina Naa Atswei Deisa Thompson Dr. Sangu Delle Banguu Delle Ola Torky Erharuyi Idemudia, CIPP/US