Published: 04/30/2026
By Catherine Wu, Global Health Communications Assistant
“The first time we stepped into an operating room in the U.S., we were struck by the sheer amount of waste generated from a single case,” said Srinidhi Polkampally and Bhav Jain, two third-year medical students at Stanford School of Medicine. “Over time, it started to feel normal… even necessary for high-quality care.”
In a new commentary in STAT, Polkampally and Jain questioned this underlying assumption during their years of medical training — that “high-quality care inevitably produces high waste” – as they turned to look at the sustainability practices of hospitals in India as part of a summer research project.
Visiting the LV Prasad Eye Institute, the Aravind Eye Hospital, and other Indian hospitals, the medical students saw a glimpse into how health care around the world could operate differently. There, the two medical students saw hospitals performing thousands of surgeries with dramatically less waste — using reusable gowns and instruments, rigorous waste segregation, and on-site renewable energy. And importantly, with outcomes comparable to and even better than the U.S.
“It was clear: The United States and peer nations have much to learn from India about optimizing care delivery sustainably,” the two medical students said.
In the practice of global health, much emphasis is placed on how Western high-income nations can support low- and middle-income countries through funding, training, and infrastructure development. But our travels repeatedly made clear that the relationship must be bidirectional.
Srinidhi Polkampally and Bhav Jain, third-year medical students at Stanford School of Medicine
Polkampally and Jain are leaders of Stanford’s Student-Led Organization for Global Health for medical students.