Rapid Assessment for Resilient Recovery and ... - GFDRR

Most private sector health facilities are located in urban areas, where floodwater currents
were weaker, which helped mitigate structural damage. However, the total cost of damage
to furniture is significant, due to the high number of large and small private medical and
dental clinics located across flooded urban areas. The flood not only ruined furniture
directly exposed to water. Most of the furniture kept above the water level in nearby areas
was also damaged through exposure to high humidity brought by the floodwater, as well as
by fungi which grow rapidly in high humidity environments. Moldy furniture is commonplace
in flooded hospitals and clinics.
A number of pieces of expensive medical equipment, including MRI and CT scanners,
X-ray machines, and laboratory equipment in public and private hospitals were also
damaged. The damaged equipment was located on the first floor and basement of the
hospitals, and was directly exposed to floodwater. The fact that the cost of damage to
medical equipment in private health facilities is higher than those in public health facilities
does not mean that medical equipment in public hospitals was less damaged than those
in private hospitals. However, a number of public hospitals, which were flooded, have
outsourced the operations of expensive medical equipment to private companies. The
equipment is owned by private companies, and those public hospitals give the companies
the rights to operate the equipment in public hospital compounds, as part of an integrated
hospital service. Thus, the cost of damage to this equipment is not borne by the public
hospitals, but by private companies.
As well as private hospitals, large and small private dental clinics are believed to have
incurred significant damage to dental equipment. Unlike private medical clinics, which do
not need expensive medical equipment, large and small dental clinics need to be equipped
with expensive dental equipment. One set of dental equipment costs around THB 200,000
per unit. Each unit is heavy and immobile. Given the high number of dental clinics in the
flooded areas of Greater Bangkok (including Pathum Thani and Nonthaburi), the damage
to dental equipment in the private sector is expected to be high.
The damage to drugs and other medical supplies is minimal, as floodwater in affected
areas rose gradually and hospital/clinic staff had sufficient time to move medical supplies
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