Chiba hospitals face surgical disruptions following heavy rainfall

Heavy rainfall in Chiba Prefecture has caused significant damage to medical facilities, impacting surgical capabilities. At St. Margaret Hospital in Yachiyo City, flooding of the first basement level damaged equipment used to pump water to rooftop tanks, causing water outages. The hospital also reported that boiler failures have prevented the production of hot water and halted the sterilization of essential medical instruments, a process expected to take several months to fully repair.

Chiba University Hospital is also facing operational challenges after its basement drainage pumps were submerged, rendering medical equipment cleaning devices inoperable. This has forced the hospital to limit surgeries to less than half of its usual volume. In an unusual move of inter-national university hospital support, Tokyo Science University Hospital has begun providing its 24-hour cleaning facilities to Chiba University Hospital. This assistance, expected to last two to three weeks, aims to facilitate the cleaning of approximately 40 sets of surgical equipment per night to help normalize surgical operations.