Due to the spread of the new coronavirus, the number of private emergency services that transport patients at the request of public health centers in Tokyo is increasing.
According to the Tokyo Fire Department and others, the operating rate of ambulances in Tokyo exceeded 95% as of the morning of the 2nd, and there were 24 cases last month where 52 fire departments nationwide could not immediately decide where to accept emergency patients. It has reached 6035 in the week leading up to today.
Under these circumstances, the dispatch of private emergency services is also increasing, and requests from Hino City, Tokyo, which are receiving requests from public health centers to transport corona patients to hospitals, etc., have increased rapidly since about two weeks ago.
In June, the number of ambulances was at most 2 per day, but since the middle of last month, there have been 20 cases per day, and recently all five ambulances are in operation. is.
On the 29th of last month, the public health center requested the transportation of a female patient in her 90s infected with the new corona, and an emergency medical technician wearing protective clothing carried the woman from the front door of her home to an ambulance on a stretcher.
The woman had been vaccinated three times, but she was found to be infected after meeting her friend, and her hospitalization was decided because she was old and had underlying medical conditions.
In the car, the paramedic measured the oxygen level in the woman's blood, listened to her fever and physical condition, and took her to the hospital for about an hour.
According to the company, a woman in her 50s who had been transported by a fire department ambulance due to suspicion of heatstroke was found to be infected with the corona in an in-vehicle test. It means that there was a case that took over the transportation.
Later, the woman's condition changed suddenly in her car and she needed oxygen, and she was transported again in a fire ambulance.
Mr. Satoru Yashima, the head of the Hino sales office of "Private Ambulance Field", said, "It's operating from morning to night, and it's becoming a situation where we can't handle it anymore. As long as there are people who need transportation, I want to deal with everything, but it's painful to be in a situation where I have to refuse."