Many hospitals in Quang Ninh Province, northern Vietnam have endured extensive damage caused by deadly typhoon Yagi, with power and water systems at several facilities completely knocked out, said a local health official on Monday.

The power in healthcare facilities has yet to be restored, forcing them to rely on backup generators whose fuel supplies are running low, Nguyen Trong Dien, director of the provincial Department of Health, told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper, adding that water reserves are also dwindling.

He said that the health department had sent support teams to the affected medical facilities, expressing his hope for a quick recovery from the natural disaster.

Yagi, the third storm to batter Vietnam this year, mostly wreaked havoc on infrastructure at these hospitals by felling trees, blowing off roofs, and destroying auxiliary structures such as parking lots, fences, and water tanks, according to the health department.

At the provincial Mental Health Hospital, the storm uprooted plenty of large trees, damaging walls, roofs, and power lines. 

A number of patient rooms were submerged by rainwater. The hospital's power and water systems have failed, leaving over 340 inpatients and medical workers without adequate support.

The storm also took a heavy toll on the Quang Ninh Maternity and Children Hospital, blowing off the roof of the intensive care unit, damaging air conditioners and refrigerators at other departments, and breaking windows in the lab area where moisture seriously affected the testing equipment.

Yagi shattered the glass ceiling and tore off the roof of the Geriatric and Rehabilitation Hospital, prompting staff to evacuate patients to safer locations.

Other healthcare facilities in Quang Ninh sustained similar structural damage that derailed patient care and treatment efforts.

As of Sunday afternoon, hospitals across the province had treated 357 cases linked to the typhoon, including three fatalities. 

Eighteen cases sustained severe multiple injuries, six experienced traumatic brain injuries, 19 patients had broken bones, and more than 300 others suffered from soft-tissue injuries.

Emergency medical teams managed to respond to 11 cases and arranged six ambulance trips for various healthcare facilities.

In neighboring Hai Phong City, which suffered the direct impact of Yagi, some medical centers sustained typhoon-related damage, such as blown-off roofs, destroyed instruction signs, and collapsed walls.

Typhoon Yagi ravaged many parts of some northern Vietnamese localities, including Quang Ninh, Hai Phong, and Hanoi upon its landfall on Saturday.

The typhoon later weakened into a tropical depression on Sunday.

As of 6:00 pm on Sunday, super typhoon Yagi and the resulting landslides and floods have claimed 21 lives and left three people missing in northern Vietnam, according to a report from the Vietnam Disaster and Dyke Management Authority under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Typhoon Yagi was considered the most powerful storm to have hammered the East Vietnam Sea over the past three decades.

So far, close to 230 people have been injured in the aftermath.

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