Hospitals in Saitama Prefecture, which have been treating patients with the most severe symptoms of the new coronavirus, have not been treated using a heart-lung machine (ECMO) in this "7th wave", and moderately ill patients who cannot find a place to accept them. It's getting closer to full floor.

Doctors in the field are raising a sense of crisis, saying, "If this situation continues, we will not be able to treat severely ill patients who need treatment such as ECMO."

"Kawaguchi Heart and Respiratory Hospital" in Kawaguchi City, Saitama Prefecture has been treating severely ill patients who have been unable to breathe on their own due to severe pneumonia since the beginning of the spread of the new corona infection, using ECMO and respirators. , In this "7th wave", there are few patients who become seriously ill due to corona, so ECMO is not used, and there are many cases where patients with moderate symptoms who have been transported by ambulance at night or on holidays are accepted.

On July 29, the hospital increased the number of beds it can handle from 8 to 16 beds, but this weekend there were a series of emergency transports, and as of the morning of the 1st, 12 patients were hospitalized. .



Hospitals have freed up beds for severely ill patients by having patients in stable condition transferred to nearby medical institutions, but since late July, the spread of infection has made it difficult to find places to accept them. .



As of the morning of the 1st, one patient with an intractable neurological disease was on a ventilator, and doctors were busy adjusting the transfer of five patients who had recovered.



Director Nobuhiro Takeda said, "It is believed that the corona will worsen the chronic illness and there will be patients who need ECMO, etc., so if the current situation continues, we will not be able to treat the severely ill patients we should see." .