**Abstract**

The healthcare sector has had a relatively late implementation of environmental thinking in its setup. "Green electronic technologies and go green healthcare system" has recently evolved to address the biodegradability and biocompatibility issues faced by inorganic electronics and non-biodegradable materials. Green healthcare has the capability to promote global health both directly and indirectly. With the rise in environmental degradation, utilizing innovative 'Go Green' strategies in ophthalmology is of utmost importance. It has been structured to imbibe environmentalism into healthcare. In this chapter, we have emphasized a few simple patient point of care (POC) innovations in the field of ophthalmology that could transform the future of disease management toward a much more sustainable model by reducing resource and energy consumption. We have discussed how we innovated the novel coronicle (corona + cubicle) during the COVID-19 era, which housed all the essential ophthalmic gadgets and was interconnected using the local area network (LAN) for data access in patient care. Turning to patient counseling, we have highlighted how our innovative and cost-effective 3D augmented reality, and 4D holographic diagnostics and counseling platforms are effective in replacing the conventional paper-based system.

**Keywords:** green electronic technologies, patient point of care, 3D augmented reality, 4D holographic diagnostics, counseling platforms, go green, ophthalmic cubicle

## **1. Introduction**

Environmental changes are considered by many as the major long-term threat to global health in the 21st century [1]. To keep an eye on that, worldwide communities, governmental agencies or international research programs like Green Program 2030 have made massive, concerted efforts to launch new visions in the economy, society, and healthcare sector such as green building, green cities and other go green initiatives, but, global environmental issues and its potentially catastrophic effects are accelerating faster than anticipated [2–6]. Healthcare services are more substantial contributors

to climatic changes as it generates the most diverse both non-biodegradable and biodegradable biohazard waste materials in large quantities; compared to any other commercial sector. At least 15% of that are highly hazardous and not managed in an environmentally safe manner [7, 8]. In addition, the percentage of plastic in medical waste may be as high as about 20–30% [9]. Moreover, since the first outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) early in 2020, eight million tons of pandemicassociated waste (plastic) have been generated globally, contributing to environmental degradation and climatic change [10–12]. It is a known fact that healthcare services are significant contributors to total national greenhouse gas emissions, such as 10% in the United States of America (USA), 7% in Australia, 5% in Canada and Japan, 4% in the United Kingdom (UK) and 1.5% in India [3, 13–17].

Without question, modern eye care practice, as a high-volume service, generates an enormous amount of non-biodegradable trash regularly, and it all starts with any organization's routine surgical and outpatient department (OPD) procedures, whether in private practice or academia or somewhere in between. For instance, ophthalmology is a high-volume speciality, accounting for 8·1% of hospital outpatient visits nationally in 2018–2019 in the UK [18]. Consequently, all eye healthcare centres in the world face numerous challenges, including inaccessibility of good services, rising costs, and an increase in environment-related pollution.

The adverse effects of ophthalmic healthcare delivery on the environment will probably increase daily. There are many innovations implemented to solve this problem, and demand is rising as the world population grows and ages. In this chapter, we have discussed one such emerging green concept; by embracing this concept, eye hospitals mainly benefit in terms of energy-saving, which can also lead to monetary savings. The green color is indicative of the effort taken to create an eco-friendly healthcare system. Going green involves waste reduction, and energy and resource conservation in the modern healthcare system, which requires expensive, energyintensive processes in the use of water, lighting, heating, cooling, ventilation, and waste disposal [19]. As per estimates, 15 to 30% of energy and around 30% of water could be saved in this process. Usage of general lighting, compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) and light-emitting diode (LED) lamps can reduce energy consumption by 15–30%, 30% and 45–50%, respectively [12]. The Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) and Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment (GRIHA) are the green building rating systems that help review the requirements and aid in setting up goals for green projects by targeting elements of sustainability [12].

The medical community has already implemented green practices in various surgical units, such as in cataract surgery and surgical waste disposal. Still, the functioning of green teams should be beyond the hospital setting when involving long-term care or outpatient clinics [20]. In this chapter, we have discussed simple patient point of care (POC) innovations for diagnosing eye diseases and counseling platforms toward a much more environment-friendly culture in the OPD.

## **2. Green outpatient department and clinics**

A healthy work environment is essential in healthcare not only to care for its own but to model for society at large the value of a healthy environment maintained according to principles of sustainability [21]. The essential principles of green clinics are to create a workspace that is safe and effective for both the patient and health workers and provides a sustainable model for long-term global health.
