To the Editor: The environmental impact of Australia’s health system needs to be assessed. Estimates from the United Kingdom indicate that travel is responsible for 13% of health care-related carbon emissions, with patient travel contributing 6%.1 Australia’s total emissions for the year to September 2012 were estimated to be 24.1 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent gas (tCO2e) per capita, with 16% of all emissions being transport-related.2 In a recent study, we sought to estimate the carbon cost associated with health-related travel from rural and remote Australia.
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The Rural Clinical School of the University of Tasmania is partly funded by the Australian Government Department of Health.
No relevant disclosures.