Hospitals in Brazil at risk as floods increase businesslive.co.za - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from businesslive.co.za Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Changes now to build resilience and avoid flood damage are cost effective, experts say
By Meghie Rodrigues
SAO PAULO, March 9 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Last December, when physician Victor Heitor Gomes became health director for Rafard, a municipality 150 km northwest of São Paulo, he knew he had a challenge ahead.
The only clinic in the town of 9,000 had been through hard times: heavy rains in mid-November caused part of a meeting room wall to collapse and a month later more rain flooded parts of the building, including the surgery room and common areas.
The problems forced the clinic to relocate some services to other rooms – and repairing the meter-long hole in the meeting room wall had to be put on hold because of ongoing rain in the Brazilian summer.
FEATURE-Going under? Brazil s hospitals at risk as climate change brings more floods
Extreme weather, like the floods that ravaged the Maria Tereza Apprilante Gimenez Basic Healthcare Unit in Rafard, are increasingly a threat throughout the region as climate change takes hold - and are creating an additional burden for health workers struggling to battle the coronavirus pandemic. According to the Pan American Health Organization, almost 70% of the 18,000 hospitals in Latin America and the Caribbean are located in areas highly vulnerable to floods, major earthquakes or hurricanes.Reuters | Brasilia | Updated: 09-03-2021 09:13 IST | Created: 09-03-2021 07:23 IST
Representative Image Image Credit: ANI
In December 2020, when physician Victor Heitor Gomes became the health director for Rafard, a municipality 150 kilometers northwest of São Paulo, he knew he had a challenge ahead.