Hospitals threatened by climate change

Transcript

The World Health Organisation says hospitals in the Pacific region are struggling to cope with the effects of climate change and coastal erosion.

Flash flooding, droughts, and king tides are increasingly threatening some of the regions ageing coastal hospitals.

Meanwhile, governments are facing the challenge of building new medical facilities in safer locations.

Jenny Meyer reports:

The WHO's environmental health specialist in Fiji, Dr Rok-ho Kim, says hospitals in Solomon Islands, Tonga and the Marshall Islands are particularly vulnerable to the effects of global warming.

ROK-HO KIM: A prominent one is in the Solomon Islands, the National Referral Hospital, it's very close to the shoreline. And this shoreline is approaching towards the building in the past decade. We have a very good air view of how the sea line was approaching since World War Two.

The Solomon Islands Permanent Secretary for Health says the new government has committed to relocating the National Referral Hospital as the children's ward is now only two metres from the sea. Dr Tenneth Dalipandra says major flooding last year and tsunami threats have led to patient evacuations which are a logistical nightmare. Planning has started to rebuild up the hill.

TENNETH DALIPANDRA: And it will be moving to higher ground behind Honiara City. The land has been identified and our other ministry the Ministry of Lands and Housing have worked with the land owners to acquire this piece of land.

The hospital in the Tongan islands of Ha'apai is also going to be replaced by a new building further inland to make it less vulnerable to the elements. A project, partly funded by the Asian Development Bank, will build a hospital with up to 40 beds a couple of hundred metres inland, on slightly elevated ground. The director of health Dr Siale 'Akau'ola says there is very significant erosion of the lawn and the move is essential.

SIALE 'AKAU'OLA: The hospital is adjacent to the waterfront, the seaside and I'd say less than ten metres now. So it is too close for comfort.

Dr 'Akau'ola says the current site is also an earthquake risk.

SIALE 'AKAU'OLA: The most concern for us is an earthquake because the hospital is built on sandy foundations and we are sure that it's soaked with seawater because it is so close to the sea. Another further shake, the foundation would be very soft and we risk major damage.

Despite regular sea inundation and high tide events on Majuro atoll, the Marshall Islands hospital hasn't yet been flooded. It's located about 100 metres from the ocean behind sea walls but as Majuro correspdonent, Giff Johnson says, there is very limited land space in the country so the government is planning for a costly replacement hospital on the same site.

GIFF JOHNSON: There's been some problems with the design and there's disputes about the amount of money the cost to build a new facility. So it's not really clear what the Marshall Islands government is proposing which apparently is around a 70 million dollar new hospital.

Giff Johnson says amid escalating health concerns such as diabetes and heart disease the money would be better spent on preventative health care.

GIFF JOHNSON: Frankly I don't think there's a huge need for a new hospital. Things like NCDs and problems like TB and leprosy is a lot more to do with having health promotion and good interaction with the community. And whether you're operating out of a tin shack or a multi-million dollar building doesn't really affect that too much.

Meanwhile the WHO's Dr Kim says developed countries with large carbon emissions have an obligation to help Pacific nations cover the cost of relocating their hospitals as rising sea levels take their toll.