Abstract
Current challenges of climate change or global warming are issues that all countries worldwide
prioritized and urgently addressed. Many countries have established policies to mitigate this problem.
As is the case in other sectors, health systems contribute significantly to greenhouse gas emissions
causing global warming. This issue has been prioritized by the Thai Ministry of Public Health, which has
established mitigation policy for hospitals across the country. However, a study on greenhouse gas
emissions from Thai hospitals showed that their percentage of emissions are higher than the health
sectors in their countries. This study therefore aimed to examine the hospital directors’ awareness of
climate change issues and the challenges they faced in resolving those issues in the 12 health regions
in Thailand, as these factors influence policy implementation in the hospital context. A survey was
conducted using a semi-structured questionnaire on topics related to current policies and issues
regarding climate change. A total of 55 hospital executives from community, general, and regional
hospitals across 12 health regions participated. The study found that hospital executives’ concern on
climate change was high, with an average score of 2.8 out of 3; additionally, they believed that current
solutions were incommensurable to the present situation, with an average score of 2.05 out of 3; not
different by management positions and by hospital levels. Regarding potential solutions, 87.3% of
respondents believed that measures related to electricity use, such as switching to energy-efficient
appliances and installation of solar power systems, should be prioritized. The study concluded that
policymakers should first focus on policies related to electricity consumption in hospitals. Furthermore,
policies concerning telemedicine should also be prioritized. There were still certain challenges in
reaching effectiveness of these policies widely.
