Regarding the "hospital ship," whose necessity has been debated due to the spread of the new coronavirus, the government said that there were issues such as securing medical staff, and said that it would not build a new one for the time being.
Last year, when the infection of the new coronavirus spread, members of parliament from the ruling and opposition parties called for the introduction of a "hospital ship" that gives the ship the function of a hospital in case of a large-scale disaster or infectious disease. Has gone up.
For this reason, the government has been considering the need for hospital ships, but on the 30th, it announced the idea of forgoing new construction for the time being.
According to this, "hospital ships" can be expected to support medical care in areas where land routes have been cut off due to a large-scale disaster and remote islands, but there is no advantage over land-based medical institutions in dealing with infectious diseases. is.
In addition, even in the event of a large-scale disaster, it takes time to arrive at the disaster area, and it is difficult to deal with critically ill patients who need immediate treatment.
Furthermore, based on past disaster records, it is difficult to dispatch medical staff to hospital ships in addition to onshore medical institutions, which is the biggest challenge.
We have not found a way to secure personnel to operate the ship or utilize it in normal times to secure profits, and in the future we would like to work on strengthening the medical system in the event of a disaster using the existing ship.
For this reason, next year, the government will conduct training to confirm the flow of treatment on board using a SDF ship off the coast of Kochi Prefecture.