HOSPITAL DISASTER READINESS SHORTCOMINGS IN PLOVDIV REGION, BULGARIA

Abstract

The disaster medical support plan is defined as "an agreed set of preparation, response, and recovery measures and includes a description of responsibilities, governance structures and strategies, and the management of resources and information for the protection of life, property, and the environment". Its purpose is to provide prompt and adequate medical care to the maximum number of casualties and to minimize the morbidity and mortality caused by disasters. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to train staff well enough and to provide resources to be set aside and used in disasters. The provision of resources for disaster medical support, emergency electricity and water supply, and communication facilities are part of the hospital plan and are considered in the planning of disaster medical support. They are elements of the static component of hospital disaster resilience. The purpose of the study is to analyse hospital disaster readiness in the Plovdiv region, Bulgaria, by examining some of the static components of disaster resilience, included in hospital disaster medical support plans. Documentary, descriptive, and comparative methods have been used in the study of documents regulating the organization and conduct of disaster medical support in hospitals in Plovdiv region, Bulgaria- orders, disaster medical support plans. The multidisciplinary hospitals for active treatment in the Plovdiv region are 19. These included in the study were selected at random (lottery) principle from a list of existing hospitals in the region- 2 multidisciplinary hospitals for active treatment and 1 university multidisciplinary hospital for active treatment. Data collection was carried out in the period July 2019 - September 2019. According to the plans, the construction of the building stock of the studied hospitals in Plovdiv region is resistant in case of disasters. Alternative emergency electricity and water supply, oxygen supply and food stocks are available only in some of the hospitals. It is not clear from the disaster medical support plans whether drugs, emergency materials (turnstiles, stretchers) and portable medical equipment (defibrillators, resuscitation devices, ventilators, and electrocardiographs) are reserved only for disaster medical support. Most of the hospitals in the Plovdiv region have their own sanitary transport. Some of them do not have data on the use of air ambulances and the availability of helicopter pads. The critical infrastructure on hospitals in the territory of the Plovdiv region is insufficient to meet the challenges of disaster medical support. There are some difficulties related to stocks of food, emergency medicines, portable medical equipment, and the availability of their own ambulances in the event of a disaster. We recommend focusing on addressing these planning issues to increase the readiness of hospitals to respond to disasters, which in turn will have a positive impact on the hospital disaster resilience