One in 12 hospitals in the world is at risk of full or partial shutdown due to extreme weather events if we do not move away from fossil fuels quickly.
According to a report by the XDI Cross Dependency Initiative, which analyzes climate risks, a total of 16,245 hospitals will fall into this category by the end of the century - twice as many as are currently at high risk. The document adds that a residential or commercial building with this level of risk will be considered uninsurable, the Guardian reports.
"Climate change is having an increasing impact on the health of people around the world," said Dr. Karl Mallon, director of science and technology at XDI. "What will happen when severe weather also leads to hospital closures? Our analysis shows that without a swift divestment from fossil fuels, global health risks will worsen as thousands of hospitals become unable to provide services during crises."
Although some of the hospitals can be adapted to meet the effects of extreme weather events such as hurricanes, severe storms, floods and wildfires, many will have to be relocated at great expense.
As with many of the impacts of climate change, this will most affect low- and middle-income countries, home to 71% (11,512) of hospitals at risk by the end of the century. Southeast Asia currently has the highest percentage of hospitals at high risk of damage from extreme weather events. It also faces risks in the future - with high emission levels, almost one in five hospitals (18.4%) in the region could be fully or partially closed by the end of the century.
Professor Nick Watts, Director of the Center for Sustainable Medicine at the National University of Singapore, said: "It is clear that climate change threatens to undermine the stability of the health systems on which our patients and communities depend. Whether this leads to the closure of health facilities or to overburdening the clinic with the growing burden of disease, the consequences for people are dire."
XDI publishes the location and names of all threatened hospitals and calls on governments to check hospitals in their region to protect them.
"Governments have a duty to the public to ensure the continued provision of critical services. For individual governments not to act on this information, or for the global community not to support governments in need, is a clear disregard for the well-being of their citizens," Mallon stressed. /BGNES
