Extreme Heat and Healthcare Facility Readiness: Protecting Patients, Health Workers, and Essential Services
IMPLEMENTATION INSIGHTS
Extreme Heat and Healthcare Facility Readiness: Protecting Patients, Health Workers, and Essential Services
IMPLEMENTATION INSIGHTS · CLIMATE-RESILIENT HEALTHCARE
Last reviewed: October 22, 2026
A hospital can remain open and appear to be operating normally during a period of extreme heat, even as conditions inside become increasingly difficult to manage. Waiting areas grow uncomfortable, cooling systems struggle to maintain suitable temperatures, and staff working in busy clinical environments begin to feel the effects of prolonged heat exposure. Meanwhile, pharmacy personnel may become concerned about medicine storage conditions, while the facilities team faces rising electricity demand.
These problems often develop gradually rather than through a single equipment failure. Each may initially seem manageable, but together they can affect patient safety, working conditions, and the hospital's ability to maintain essential services.
Extreme heat is therefore more than a concern about patients developing heat-related illness. For healthcare organizations, it is also an operational challenge involving the people already receiving care, the workers providing that care, and the infrastructure and supplies on which clinical services depend.
For healthcare facilities in Viet Nam, the task is to translate official heat warnings and credible international guidance into practical arrangements that reflect local conditions, building characteristics, patient needs, available resources, and applicable professional requirements.
Why Extreme Heat Requires a Facility-Level Response
Extreme heat can place several pressures on healthcare facilities at the same time. Demand for medical services may increase, patients and workers may experience potentially harmful conditions, and electricity, cooling equipment, and other essential resources may come under additional strain.
The effects are not determined by outdoor temperature alone. Building design, ventilation, humidity, solar exposure, internal heat sources, occupancy, and cooling system performance all influence indoor conditions. Two departments within the same hospital may experience very different levels of heat exposure, even when outdoor weather conditions are identical.
Buildings can also retain heat after outdoor temperatures begin to fall. During prolonged hot periods, inadequate nighttime cooling may allow indoor temperatures to remain elevated, extending exposure for patients and staff.
WHO's Heat and Health fact sheet, updated on July 31, 2026, recognizes extreme heat as an important environmental and occupational health hazard. It also highlights the potential for heat to disrupt essential health services through pressure on electricity, transportation, and other supporting systems.
In June 2026, the WHO Regional Office for Europe published the second edition of Heat–Health Action Plans: Guidance. The updated guidance addresses preparedness, heat-health warning systems, populations at increased risk, communication, health system resilience, reducing heat exposure, surveillance, and evaluation. Although developed for the European Region, its principles can inform locally adapted approaches elsewhere.
More recently, WHO's October 16, 2026 feature, Feeling the Heat: How Do We Keep Health Systems Fully Functional During Heatwaves?, described practical challenges involving overheating healthcare buildings, cooling systems, medical technologies, workforce conditions, and service continuity. The article provides useful examples of operational experience, although it should not be interpreted as a formal technical standard.
Together, these publications reinforce the importance of considering extreme heat in routine healthcare facility planning, maintenance, and operational preparedness, rather than waiting until indoor conditions become unsafe or equipment begins to fail.
Turning Heat Warnings Into Practical Decisions
A heat warning becomes useful when a healthcare organization understands what it means for its own operations.
Hospitals and clinics can use official information from competent meteorological and public health authorities to anticipate potentially hazardous conditions. However, an outdoor heat warning does not necessarily describe temperatures inside a hospital or the conditions experienced by individual patients and workers.
A practical response therefore needs to combine official warnings with local observations, appropriate indoor environmental monitoring, and knowledge of the facility's vulnerabilities.
For example, a forecast of several unusually hot days may justify additional checks of cooling systems, backup electricity, medicine storage areas, and clinical environments where temperature control is particularly important. Where indoor conditions are already difficult to maintain, the same forecast may require more immediate protective measures.
Healthcare facilities should also consider how warning information reaches the people responsible for acting on it. A facilities manager may need to assess cooling capacity, while clinical teams may need to identify patients particularly vulnerable to heat. Pharmacy personnel may need to review temperature monitoring arrangements, and occupational safety personnel may need to examine working conditions for exposed staff.
These activities do not necessarily require a new management structure, but they do require reliable communication and a clear understanding of when developing problems should be escalated.
Locally appropriate action triggers may be informed by official heat warnings, measured indoor conditions, equipment operating limits, and relevant clinical or occupational risk assessments. They should not depend solely on a single outdoor temperature reading.
There is no single temperature threshold that establishes whether every healthcare facility, ward, procedure room, or workplace is safe.
A temperature that may be tolerable in an administrative office could be unsuitable for a vulnerable patient or incompatible with the environmental requirements of a particular clinical activity. Occupational heat exposure also depends on humidity, radiant heat, air movement, physical workload, clothing, protective equipment, and exposure duration.
This does not mean numerical limits are unnecessary. Some clinical environments, equipment, products, and workplaces have specific requirements that must be respected. The important distinction is that these requirements depend on the setting and cannot be replaced by one universal threshold.
The practical task is to connect reliable environmental information with timely decisions that protect patients, workers, and essential services.
Keeping Cooling and Ventilation Systems Reliable
Air conditioning is an important part of heat preparedness in many healthcare facilities, but having cooling equipment installed does not necessarily mean that suitable environmental conditions can be maintained.
A system that operates adequately during normal weather may struggle during prolonged extreme heat. Equipment deterioration, inadequate maintenance, increased electrical demand, or uneven cooling distribution can create problems that become apparent only under more demanding conditions.
Healthcare facilities can reduce these uncertainties by examining how cooling systems perform in practice. Maintenance records, equipment specifications, previous overheating incidents, and environmental monitoring may help identify areas requiring additional attention.
Different parts of the same building may experience different conditions. Rooms exposed to direct sunlight, upper floors, crowded waiting areas, and spaces containing heat-generating equipment may become uncomfortable or difficult to cool. The clinical significance of those conditions, however, depends on how each area is used.
Specialized clinical environments require particular care. Operating rooms, procedure rooms, critical care areas, neonatal services, laboratories, and other controlled environments may have specific requirements concerning temperature, humidity, airflow, ventilation, or pressure relationships.
These requirements must be determined according to the relevant clinical functions, technical regulations, professional guidance, equipment specifications, and infection prevention considerations. They cannot be replaced by a general recommendation to keep hospital rooms cool.
Decisions about ventilation are especially important. Opening windows, introducing portable fans, increasing air circulation, or installing temporary cooling equipment may be appropriate in some areas but unsuitable in others. Changes to airflow can interfere with environmental controls intended to reduce infection risks or maintain suitable conditions for clinical procedures.
Healthcare organizations should therefore involve qualified technical personnel and relevant clinical or infection prevention specialists when considering modifications to cooling and ventilation in sensitive areas.
Passive measures, such as appropriate shading and reducing unnecessary solar heat gain, may also help limit cooling demand. However, their suitability depends on building design, ventilation requirements, fire safety, infection prevention, and the activities taking place inside.
Energy-efficient cooling and building improvements can also support environmental sustainability, but reductions in energy consumption must not compromise the environmental conditions necessary for safe care.
The aim is not to apply the same cooling solution throughout the facility. It is to maintain conditions appropriate for the people, equipment, and clinical activities in each area.
Protecting Patients Who Are More Vulnerable to Heat
Extreme heat does not affect all patients equally. Some people have health conditions or functional limitations that make it harder to regulate body temperature, recognize heat-related symptoms, or respond appropriately when environmental conditions become uncomfortable.
Older adults, infants and young children, people with cardiovascular or kidney disease, and patients with certain chronic conditions may be more vulnerable to heat-related complications. Patients with reduced consciousness, impaired mobility, communication difficulties, or dependence on medical assistance may also be unable to respond independently to rising temperatures.
Within healthcare facilities, however, the relevant question is not simply whether a patient belongs to a broadly defined vulnerable group. It is whether the person's clinical condition, treatment, and care environment create additional risks during hot weather.
A patient recovering from surgery may have different needs from someone attending a routine outpatient appointment. A critically ill patient may depend on tightly controlled environmental conditions and continuous equipment support. Another patient may be clinically stable but remain exposed to uncomfortable or potentially harmful heat while waiting for care.
Clinical teams should consider these differences when identifying patients who may require closer observation, environmental adjustments, or assistance.
Reliable access to appropriate drinking water is important, but hydration advice must reflect individual clinical needs. Some patients require fluid restrictions or carefully monitored fluid balance. General public recommendations to increase water intake should not override medical instructions.
Medicines and treatment regimens may also influence an individual's response to heat. Where clinically relevant, healthcare professionals may need to consider these factors when assessing vulnerability and planning care. Such assessments should remain within established professional responsibilities rather than lead to routine medication changes based on weather conditions alone.
Measures intended to improve thermal comfort must also remain compatible with treatment requirements, infection prevention, patient mobility, and other safety considerations.
When an area becomes unsuitable for patient care, appropriate responses may include environmental adjustments, relocation to another suitable area, or changes to care arrangements. These decisions should be based on clinical assessment, the availability of safe alternatives, and applicable professional requirements.
Protecting patients during extreme heat is therefore both a clinical and an environmental responsibility. Technical systems help create the conditions for safe care, while healthcare professionals determine what individual patients need within those conditions.
Protecting Health Workers From Occupational Heat Stress
Health workers face their own risks during extreme heat, and these should not be overlooked when organizations concentrate on protecting patients.
Some personnel work in environments where cooling is limited or physical activity is demanding. Others may be required to wear protective clothing that increases heat strain. Ambulance teams, maintenance workers, cleaners, security personnel, and staff performing outdoor activities may experience different levels of exposure from personnel working in temperature-controlled departments.
Even within the same facility, occupational heat risks vary according to workload, clothing, humidity, ventilation, exposure duration, and opportunities for recovery.
In August 2025, WHO and the World Meteorological Organization published Climate Change and Workplace Heat Stress: Technical Report and Guidance. The report highlights the health consequences of occupational heat exposure and emphasizes prevention strategies adapted to working conditions, tasks, and individual vulnerabilities.
For healthcare organizations, practical considerations include access to drinking water, suitable rest areas, appropriate work scheduling, workload adjustments, and arrangements for recognizing and responding to suspected heat-related illness among staff.
Tasks involving substantial physical effort or prolonged outdoor exposure may require particular attention during hot periods. Healthcare organizations should also consider how increased patient demand or staffing shortages could reduce opportunities for breaks and recovery.
Environmental measurements may help characterize workplace conditions, but air temperature alone may not adequately describe occupational heat stress. Depending on the work and exposure, a more comprehensive assessment may need to consider humidity, radiant heat, air movement, workload, and protective clothing, using appropriate occupational assessment methods.
These arrangements should be informed by actual workplace risks rather than a uniform approach applied to every employee.
Workplace Microclimate Requirements Are Not Clinical Room Standards
An important legal and technical distinction must be maintained in Viet Nam.
The Law on Occupational Safety and Health, Law No. 84/2015/QH13, provides the broader legal framework for occupational safety and health responsibilities.
Ministry of Health Circular 26/2016/TT-BYT, effective December 1, 2016, promulgates QCVN 26:2016/BYT, the national technical regulation concerning permissible microclimate conditions in workplaces.
This regulation addresses environmental conditions in workplaces and must be applied according to its scope and relevant working conditions.
However, workplace microclimate requirements should not be treated as universal environmental standards for every hospital room or clinical activity.
A workplace exposure limit is not automatically an appropriate temperature requirement for an operating room, neonatal care area, laboratory, pharmacy storage facility, or patient receiving specialized treatment.
Clinical environmental requirements must be established through relevant technical regulations, professional guidance, infection prevention considerations, equipment specifications, and patient care needs.
The distinction also works in the opposite direction. A clinical area may meet its environmental specifications while personnel performing physically demanding tasks or wearing protective equipment remain exposed to occupational heat stress.
Healthcare organizations must therefore consider patient care requirements and worker protection requirements together, without assuming that one replaces the other.
Preparing Electricity and Backup Systems for Heat-Related Demand
Cooling systems, clinical equipment, communication infrastructure, medicine storage, and many other supporting services depend on reliable electricity.
During extreme heat, electricity demand may increase as cooling systems operate for longer periods or at higher loads. This can expose limitations in electrical capacity or make existing equipment problems more consequential.
Backup generators and other alternative power arrangements can reduce vulnerability, but their actual capabilities must be understood.
A hospital may have emergency electricity for lighting, selected clinical equipment, and essential infrastructure without having enough backup capacity to operate all cooling systems at normal performance.
The presence of a generator should therefore not be treated as proof that cooling and other essential functions can continue without interruption.
Healthcare facilities need to identify which functions depend on emergency electricity, whether available capacity is sufficient for the intended loads, and how long those functions can be supported under realistic conditions.
Technical review may include electrical demand, load priorities, transfer arrangements, fuel availability, maintenance status, cooling requirements, and the conditions necessary for backup equipment to operate safely.
Where feasible, controlled testing by qualified personnel can help identify weaknesses before an actual disruption. Such testing should be planned carefully and must not expose patients, critical equipment, or essential services to unnecessary risk.
Heat can also affect electrical and electronic equipment directly. Certain systems require ventilation or cooling to remain within specified operating limits. Maintaining an electricity supply may therefore be insufficient if the surrounding environment becomes unsuitable for the equipment.
Where backup capacity is limited, healthcare organizations may need to determine which areas and functions require priority protection. These decisions should reflect clinical needs, equipment requirements, infection prevention considerations, and the actual capabilities of the electrical and cooling systems.
The objective is not simply to maintain electricity. It is to preserve the functions necessary for safe clinical care.
Protecting Medicines, Vaccines, and Temperature-Sensitive Products
Extreme heat can threaten the quality of medicines, vaccines, laboratory reagents, and other healthcare products whose stability or performance depends on controlled environmental conditions.
Storage requirements vary by product. Some medicines require refrigeration, while others require controlled room temperatures or protection from excessive heat and humidity. Vaccines may have specific cold-chain requirements, and certain laboratory reagents or diagnostic materials must remain within defined temperature ranges to maintain their performance.
There is no single storage temperature suitable for every medicine, vaccine, or healthcare product.
In Viet Nam, Ministry of Health Circular 36/2018/TT-BYT establishes Good Storage Practices for medicines and pharmaceutical ingredients. The Circular has been amended by subsequent instruments, including Circular 11/2025/TT-BYT, effective July 1, 2025. The updated provisions are reflected in Consolidated Document No. 12/VBHN-BYT, dated July 28, 2025.
Importantly, this regulatory framework includes specific Good Storage Practice requirements applicable to medicine storage at healthcare facilities. Appendix IV addresses relevant principles and standards, subject to the provisions governing each type of storage activity.
These are applicable pharmaceutical requirements, not merely voluntary recommendations about climate resilience.
The requirements for a particular storage activity must be determined according to relevant regulations, approved product information, manufacturer instructions, and applicable technical guidance.
Updated Vaccine Storage Requirements in Viet Nam
For vaccination activities, an additional legal update is important.
Ministry of Health Circular 13/2026/TT-BYT, issued on May 16, 2026, took effect on July 1, 2026. It replaced several earlier regulations concerning vaccination activities, including Circular 34/2018/TT-BYT.
Article 11 of Circular 13/2026/TT-BYT addresses the receipt, management, transportation, and storage of vaccines and biological products used in compulsory and voluntary immunization. It refers to applicable Good Distribution Practices and Good Storage Practices. The Circular also includes specific provisions concerning vaccine storage arrangements at commune-level health stations and vaccination sites, together with relevant professional guidance.
These requirements should be read alongside applicable pharmaceutical regulations, manufacturer instructions, and guidance issued by competent health authorities. They should not be reduced to a single temperature recommendation for every vaccine.
During extreme heat, the practical question is whether storage equipment and environmental controls can maintain the conditions required for the products involved.
A refrigerator may remain connected to electricity but operate outside its intended temperature range if the surrounding environment becomes too hot or its cooling performance deteriorates. Storage rooms may also experience unacceptable conditions that are difficult to recognize without appropriate monitoring.
Reliable temperature monitoring, suitable alarms, maintenance arrangements, and backup plans can help detect problems before product quality is compromised.
When a temperature excursion occurs, affected products should be handled according to established procedures. This may include isolating or placing stock on hold, maintaining appropriate storage conditions where possible, documenting the temperature and duration of exposure, and obtaining a qualified assessment before the products are released for use.
A product should not automatically be considered suitable for use simply because its storage temperature has returned to normal. Equally, an excursion should not automatically lead to disposal without an appropriate assessment where applicable procedures permit further evaluation.
Decisions about continued use, release, or disposal must reflect approved storage conditions, available stability information, relevant manufacturer guidance, applicable regulations, and the responsibilities of authorized pharmacy or other qualified personnel.
Temperature-sensitive medical devices and laboratory systems also require attention to their operating specifications. A facility may have adequate general cooling while a particular device or testing process remains vulnerable because its allowable environmental conditions are different.
Protecting these products and systems is an essential part of maintaining safe clinical services during prolonged heat.
Maintaining Essential Clinical Services During Heat Events
Extreme heat can place pressure on healthcare delivery from two directions. Demand for care may increase, while the facility's ability to provide normal services may become more difficult to maintain.
More patients may seek care for heat-related illness or complications of existing conditions. At the same time, workforce availability, cooling systems, equipment, transportation, and supporting services may face additional constraints.
The appropriate response depends on the facility's authorized services, patient population, and actual operating conditions.
Emergency and acute care services may need to prepare for changes in patient presentations and ensure that healthcare personnel have access to appropriate clinical guidance, equipment, training, and escalation arrangements for suspected heat-related emergencies.
Other departments may encounter different challenges. A crowded outpatient service may need to reduce prolonged exposure in waiting areas. Certain procedures may require additional environmental checks when equipment or materials depend on controlled conditions. Community healthcare teams may need to adjust work arrangements when outdoor heat exposure becomes unsafe.
These examples should not be interpreted as instructions to postpone procedures or restrict services based solely on an external temperature warning.
Decisions about clinical activity must consider patient urgency, actual environmental conditions, relevant technical requirements, available safeguards, and professional judgment.
Healthcare facilities also need to consider what happens when suitable conditions can no longer be maintained.
Depending on the situation, appropriate responses may include moving patients to another suitable area, using approved alternative service arrangements, modifying nonurgent activities where clinically justified, or coordinating referral and transfer when necessary.
These measures require careful planning. Alternative locations must meet relevant clinical and environmental requirements. Transfers depend on the receiving facility's capability and capacity, safe transportation, continuity of clinical information, and applicable professional and regulatory procedures.
Healthcare organizations should not assume that neighboring facilities will remain unaffected during widespread heat events. Regional electricity demand, workforce pressures, transportation difficulties, and increased healthcare needs may affect several providers simultaneously.
Continuity therefore means maintaining access to safe and appropriate care as far as possible, including through necessary adaptations. It does not mean continuing every activity unchanged when essential safety conditions cannot be maintained.
Preparing Before, Responding During, and Learning After Extreme Heat
Effective heat preparedness begins before indoor conditions become difficult to control.
Before anticipated hot periods, healthcare organizations can review the condition and capacity of cooling and electrical systems, identify areas where overheating has previously occurred, verify monitoring arrangements for temperature-sensitive products, and confirm how heat warnings will be communicated.
Clinical teams can consider which patients and activities may require particular attention, while occupational safety personnel and managers review the circumstances of staff whose work involves significant heat exposure.
This preparation should build on existing maintenance, emergency preparedness, occupational safety, and clinical management arrangements. A separate heat preparedness plan may be useful, but its value depends on whether staff can implement it through established procedures.
During an extreme heat event, attention shifts to actual conditions and emerging problems. Healthcare facilities may need closer monitoring of vulnerable areas, cooling and backup systems, medicine storage equipment, and working conditions. Clinical and technical teams should communicate promptly when deteriorating conditions could affect patient care or worker safety.
A heat warning should lead to actions appropriate to the risk. If monitoring shows that environmental conditions or equipment performance are approaching unacceptable limits, responsible personnel need to know when to intervene and how to escalate the concern.
Corrective measures should be evaluated rather than assumed to be effective. A temporary cooling arrangement, for example, may improve conditions in one area but create additional electrical demand or ventilation concerns elsewhere.
After the event, the organization should examine what happened and what needs to improve.
Were there areas where cooling became inadequate? Did storage temperatures or equipment conditions approach or exceed their permitted limits? Could staff obtain suitable rest and protection? Were changes to clinical services necessary, and did the alternative arrangements work as intended?
Lessons from these experiences can inform maintenance, staff training, equipment replacement, infrastructure investment, and future readiness activities.
The purpose is not simply to record that a heatwave occurred. It is to understand whether the organization was able to protect patients, workers, and essential services under challenging conditions, and what should change before the next event.
Applying International Guidance Within Viet Nam's Healthcare Framework
International guidance provides an important foundation for healthcare facility heat preparedness, but implementation must reflect Viet Nam's legal and operational context.
The Law on Medical Examination and Treatment, Law No. 15/2023/QH15, effective January 1, 2024, as subsequently amended and reflected in Consolidated Document No. 26/VBHN-VPQH dated February 26, 2026, establishes the overarching legal framework for healthcare activities, professional responsibilities, and healthcare quality.
Occupational health responsibilities must be considered under the Law on Occupational Safety and Health and relevant technical regulations, including Circular 26/2016/TT-BYT and QCVN 26:2016/BYT.
Medicine storage activities must comply with the applicable Good Storage Practice requirements under Circular 36/2018/TT-BYT, as amended, together with other relevant pharmaceutical regulations and product-specific requirements. Vaccination activities must also be considered under Circular 13/2026/TT-BYT and applicable professional guidance.
There is also specific national guidance addressing heat preparedness in healthcare facilities.
On June 3, 2025, the Ministry of Health's Medical Services Administration issued Official Letter No. 804/KCB-QLCL&CĐT concerning healthcare for patients and health workers during hot weather.
The letter called for measures to protect patients and healthcare personnel, including readiness for heat-related emergencies, improvements to cooling and ventilation arrangements, attention to crowded areas, and access to drinking water for patients and accompanying family members.
Its importance lies in connecting heat preparedness with everyday healthcare operations and the conditions experienced by patients and staff.
However, the letter should be interpreted according to its nature, addressees, and scope. It should not be described as establishing one mandatory temperature threshold for every healthcare department or replacing specialized clinical environmental requirements.
There are also examples of heat preparedness being addressed at the local level.
On May 27, 2026, the Hanoi Department of Health published an article describing measures implemented by healthcare facilities in the city to protect patients and health workers during prolonged hot weather. The reported activities included maintaining cooling equipment, improving waiting arrangements, managing patient flow, providing drinking water, and adjusting some staff working arrangements.
This offers a practical example of how healthcare organizations can respond to heat-related operational challenges. However, the article should be understood as a report of local implementation experience, not as a nationwide legal requirement or a formally validated model.
International publications also require appropriate interpretation. WHO's 2026 Heat–Health Action Plans: Guidance, Second Edition was developed primarily for the WHO European Region. Its recommendations concerning preparedness, warning systems, communication, and health system resilience can inform discussions in Viet Nam, but individual measures require local adaptation.
Similarly, WHO–WMO guidance on workplace heat stress can help organizations understand occupational risks, but it does not replace Vietnamese occupational regulations or establish universal environmental conditions for clinical spaces.
Healthcare facilities differ in building design, technical capabilities, available resources, patient populations, and authorized services. Measures suitable for a large hospital with centralized cooling may not be directly transferable to a smaller outpatient clinic or another healthcare setting.
The appropriate approach is to combine credible international evidence with applicable Vietnamese requirements, qualified technical expertise, clinical judgment, and a clear understanding of the conditions present in each organization.
Making Heat Readiness Part of Everyday Healthcare Operations
The effectiveness of heat preparedness cannot be judged solely by whether a facility has written procedures.
A hospital may have an emergency plan but lack clear arrangements for responding when an inpatient area becomes excessively hot. It may have backup electricity without enough capacity to support critical cooling functions. It may have temperature monitoring equipment but no reliable process for responding when a medicine storage alarm is triggered.
These are practical weaknesses that can affect patient safety and service delivery, even when formal plans and equipment are already in place.
Healthcare leaders do not necessarily need to begin with major infrastructure investments. Understanding current system performance, identifying significant vulnerabilities, and ensuring that existing safeguards are reliable can provide a useful foundation for improvement.
Some actions may be relatively straightforward, such as improving communication, reviewing maintenance arrangements, checking vulnerable areas, or clarifying how staff report environmental problems. Others may require specialist assessment, additional resources, infrastructure modifications, or longer-term investment.
The appropriate priorities depend on the potential consequences for patients and workers, the limitations of existing systems, and the feasibility of maintaining safe services.
For Climate & Health Vietnam, this is an area where evidence-informed knowledge sharing and professional collaboration can help connect international guidance with practical healthcare needs in Viet Nam. Bringing together clinicians, healthcare managers, technical specialists, pharmacy personnel, occupational safety professionals, and other relevant disciplines can support a better understanding of how extreme heat affects healthcare operations.
The central lesson is that heat readiness cannot be reduced to installing more air conditioning or advising people to drink more water. It requires attention to the conditions under which patients receive care, workers perform their duties, medicines and equipment retain their required quality and performance, and essential clinical services continue to operate.
A healthcare facility is better prepared for extreme heat when it can recognize deteriorating conditions early, protect patients and health workers, and maintain safe clinical services through reliable, coordinated operational arrangements.
Selected References and Policy Context
International guidance
World Health Organization. Heat–Health Action Plans: Guidance, Second Edition. WHO Regional Office for Europe. June 11, 2026.
World Health Organization. Heat and Health. Updated July 31, 2026.
World Health Organization. Feeling the Heat: How Do We Keep Health Systems Fully Functional During Heatwaves? October 16, 2026.
World Health Organization and World Meteorological Organization. Climate Change and Workplace Heat Stress: Technical Report and Guidance. August 22, 2025.
World Health Organization. Checklists to Assess Vulnerabilities in Health Care Facilities in the Context of Climate Change. Heatwaves checklist. 2021.
World Health Organization. WHO Guidance for Climate-Resilient and Environmentally Sustainable Health Care Facilities. 2020.
World Health Organization. Operational Framework for Building Climate Resilient and Low Carbon Health Systems. 2023.
World Health Organization. Safe, Climate-Resilient and Environmentally Sustainable Health Care Facilities: An Overview. 2024.
Viet Nam policy and regulatory context
National Assembly. Law on Medical Examination and Treatment No. 15/2023/QH15, effective January 1, 2024, as amended and reflected in Consolidated Document No. 26/VBHN-VPQH, dated February 26, 2026.
National Assembly. Law on Occupational Safety and Health No. 84/2015/QH13.
Ministry of Health. Circular 26/2016/TT-BYT, promulgating QCVN 26:2016/BYT on permissible microclimate conditions in workplaces, effective December 1, 2016.
Ministry of Health. Circular 36/2018/TT-BYT on Good Storage Practices for medicines and pharmaceutical ingredients, as amended, including by Circular 11/2025/TT-BYT, effective July 1, 2025, and consolidated in Document No. 12/VBHN-BYT, dated July 28, 2025.
Ministry of Health. Circular 13/2026/TT-BYT on vaccination activities, issued May 16, 2026, effective July 1, 2026, replacing Circular 34/2018/TT-BYT and other earlier vaccination regulations.
Ministry of Health, Medical Services Administration. Official Letter No. 804/KCB-QLCL&CĐT, dated June 3, 2025, concerning healthcare for patients and health workers during hot weather.
Hanoi Department of Health. Ngành y tế Hà Nội tăng cường phòng chống chống nắng nóng, bảo đảm an toàn cho người bệnh. May 27, 2026.
Professional scope: This article is intended for professional education, evidence synthesis, and knowledge sharing. It does not constitute clinical practice guidance, individualized medical or occupational health advice, legal advice, a facility-specific engineering assessment, regulatory approval, or accreditation or certification criteria. References to WHO and other international publications do not imply endorsement of Climate & Health Vietnam by those organizations. Healthcare facilities should apply relevant Vietnamese regulations, product-specific requirements, professional guidance, and qualified clinical and technical judgment when developing and implementing heat preparedness arrangements.