At the emergency outpatient department of a medical institution that accepts inpatients with the new coronavirus, requests to accept patients who have been infected by ambulances and have deteriorated are being received every day.
At a hospital in Narita City, Chiba Prefecture, there are currently about 40 patients infected with the new coronavirus.
It is said that the emergency outpatient department has been receiving a series of requests for transport from people who complained of symptoms such as being unable to move after being infected, and from people with underlying diseases. It was filled up in the morning, and after that it became a situation where I had to refuse.
According to doctors, since mid-July when the infection spread, some patients could not find a recipient and took several hours to be transported.
For this reason, in order to prevent the ambulance from waiting for a long time, the hospital asks the person who is judged to be mild by the doctor to come to the hospital in their own car, and there are cases where they are diagnosed and treated in the parking lot. .
Another notable recent case is that when a sick or injured person is infected with the new coronavirus, it is difficult to find an ambulance destination.
Even if the symptoms of the new corona are mild, it is necessary to accept it in a dedicated hospital bed, so it is said that it is becoming difficult to deal with the current tightness of hospital beds.
On this day, an infected elderly woman who was recuperating at her home fell and broke her hip bone and was transported by ambulance.
According to the woman, the ambulance service searched for a transport destination, but was refused by more than 20 medical institutions.
About 30 minutes later, she was finally accepted and admitted to this hospital, about 40 kilometers from her home.
The woman said, ``I fell and couldn't move, but I was hesitant about calling an ambulance because it's this time of year. , I was in a situation where I was refused if I told him that I was 'corona positive'.I was worried about what to do if there was no transportation destination."
Takashi Shiga, a doctor in the emergency department at the International University of Health and Welfare Narita Hospital, said, "It is difficult to find a transport destination for people who are positive for corona or who are suspected of having a fever such as those who have a sudden illness, injury, or aggravation of their chronic illness. Even for patients other than COVID-19, there are cases where it is difficult to respond to patients due to the reduced number of hospital beds due to COVID-19.With normal medical care no longer possible, the medical field has already exceeded its limits.Refusing waiting patients is extremely painful," he said.