The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) is promoting safe, green and “smart” hospitals in the Caribbean to ensure the facilities can function during disasters and reduce their environmental footprint, according to an article on the Jamaica Observer website.
Nearly seven in 10 hospitals in Latin America and the Caribbean are located in disaster-prone areas, putting them at risk of becoming casualties themselves during hurricanes, earthquakes or flooding.
PAHO said a hospital is considered “smart” when it links structural and operational safety with green interventions, at a reasonable cost-benefit ratio.
“These improvements also affect users’ decisions to visit health facilities,” PAHO said in the article, adding that, in hospitals that have adopted the Smart Hospitals program, the number of users seeking care has increased by 40 percent.
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