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Effects of the Pedernales Earthquake on Ecuador’s Health Care System

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 October 2020

Ricardo Cañizares Fuentes ,
Giaffar Barquet Abi Hanna ,
Carlos Santana Véliz  and
Miquel Blasco Carlos Open the ORCID record for Miquel Blasco Carlos [Opens in a new window]
Ricardo Cañizares Fuentes*
Affiliation:
Instituto de Investigación e Innovación de Salud Integral, Universidad Católica de Santiago de Guayaquil, Avenue Carlos Julio Arosemena Tola, Guayaquil, Ecuador Carrera de Medicina, Facultad de Ciencias Médicas, Universidad Católica de Santiago de Guayaquil, Avenue Carlos Julio Arosemena Tola, Guayaquil, Ecuador
Giaffar Barquet Abi Hanna
Affiliation:
Carrera de Medicina, Facultad de Ciencias Médicas, Universidad Católica de Santiago de Guayaquil, Avenue Carlos Julio Arosemena Tola, Guayaquil, Ecuador
Carlos Santana Véliz
Affiliation:
Carrera de Medicina, Facultad de Ciencias Médicas, Universidad Católica de Santiago de Guayaquil, Avenue Carlos Julio Arosemena Tola, Guayaquil, Ecuador
Miquel Blasco Carlos
Affiliation:
Instituto de Investigación e Innovación de Salud Integral, Universidad Católica de Santiago de Guayaquil, Avenue Carlos Julio Arosemena Tola, Guayaquil, Ecuador Escuela de Nutrición y Dietética, Universidad Espíritu Santo-Ecuador, Avenue Samborondón, Guayaquil, Ecuador
*
Correspondence and reprint requests to Ricardo Cañizares Fuentes, Instituto de Investigación e Innovación de Salud Integral, Universidad Católica de Santiago de Guayaquil, Avenue Carlos Julio Arosemena Tola, Km 1.5 - Guayaquil, 090615, Ecuador (e-mail: wcanizar@hotmail.com).
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Abstract

Objective:

This study analyzes the effects of the Pedernales earthquake (April 2016) on Ecuador’s health care system.

Methods:

A research was carried out in Chone Canton, which combined documentary, quantitative, and qualitative techniques. Epidemiological and service production information taken from official documents was analyzed systematically. In-depth interviews and surveys were conducted with health care program directors and technicians from the Health Centres of the Ministry of Public Health and the users.

Results:

Deficiencies in the health care system were already observed in Chone Canton prior to the earthquake mainly due to the lack of doctors, nurses, and hospital beds. According to the interviewees, the health district was not prepared for an emergency like the earthquake. Some buildings fell after the earthquake, and Chone Hospital was disabled. These problems coupled with preventive action failures at the community level led to an increase in diseases after the earthquake.

Conclusions:

The shortage of personnel and physical infrastructure, weaknesses in primary health care in the Ecuadorian health system, the lack of preparation, and limited availability of information on health indicators were the causes of the sharp increase in pre-existing diseases in the area, and of new epidemic outbreaks after the earthquake.

Keywords

disastersearthquakehealth care systemprimary health care
Type
Original Research
Information
Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness , Volume 16 , Issue 2 , April 2022 , pp. 531 - 540
Copyright
© 2020 Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Inc.

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