As Japan faces a fresh wave of coronavirus infections and the government prepares for a state of emergency, medical staff say a shortage of beds ...
, medical staff say a shortage of beds and a rise in cases linked to hospitals are pushing Tokyo's medical system to the brink of collapse.
Japan has only a small fraction of the number of cases reported by its neighbours China and South Korea. Yet scenarios similar to that at Eiju General are playing out across Tokyo, as a dozen doctors and nurses in the city told Reuters there is a shortage of gear and staff even as infections surge.
Authorities have tried to test and track in a way that avoided overwhelming Japan's hospitals, said Hitoshi Oshitani, an infectious disease specialist on the government panel shaping the country's coronavirus policy. Hiroshi Nishiura, a Hokkaido University professor and member of a panel advising the government on its coronavirus response, said Eiju General, like many Tokyo hospitals, has no infectious disease department. That meant coronavirus patients were initially treated alongside everyone else, allowing the virus to spread.
According to Japan's health ministry, there are some 1.5 million hospital beds nationwide, but beds in negative-pressure rooms reserved for infectious diseases excluding tuberculosis have dwindled to just 1,882, with only 145 in Tokyo. Tokyo assemblyman Akihiro Suzuki wrote to Koike on Jan 31, asking her to set up a medical and consultation system for coronavirus cases.
Nurses told Reuters they were not sure whether their hospitals had enough advanced personal protective equipment like N95 masks and plastic gowns.
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