Amid concerns about the simultaneous epidemic of the new coronavirus and influenza, Kanagawa Prefecture is rushing to create a system to expand online medical treatment.
Kanagawa Prefecture estimates that if the new coronavirus and influenza are prevalent this winter, up to 35,000 people will want to see an outpatient clinic per day, which is less than 5,000 people.
Therefore, the prefecture is calling on medical institutions to conduct online medical examinations, but when we surveyed medical institutions that provide fever outpatient clinics in October, among the 1028 institutions that responded, corona patients were online. Only 237 answered that they were being examined by medical treatment, which was only about 20% of the total.
There are concerns about the time and cost involved in building a new system, and whether accurate diagnoses can be made without direct examination.
This month, the prefecture is calling for cooperation by holding web-based workshops titled "Online Medical Care Instruction School" for medical institutions, and creating a system to subsidize the initial cost of starting online medical care. .
On the other hand, we are calling on patients to use online medical consultations as much as possible if the risk of aggravation is low and the symptoms are mild.
At a press conference held this week, Governor Kuroiwa said, ``In the event of a simultaneous epidemic with influenza, if all fever patients rushed to medical institutions, people would panic. From the patient's point of view, I think some people don't know how to do it, so I would like to explain it properly and ask for their understanding."
At a clinic that starts online medical treatment due to the rapid increase in patients
At the "Yokohama Kandaiji Family Clinic" in Kanagawa Ward, Yokohama City, the number of patients visiting fever outpatient clinics has increased rapidly since the beginning of this month.
We can only handle 20 people a day, and there are more cases of refusal to see a doctor, so we decided to introduce online medical treatment from next month.
As a result, the examination time is greatly shortened, and it means that we can see twice as many patients as before.
However, in order not to overlook the risk of other illnesses or aggravation, we ask patients to come to the clinic for tests when necessary.
Shinji Kono, director of the hospital, said, ``If influenza becomes prevalent, there is a possibility that more people, especially the elderly, will become seriously ill due to simultaneous infection with the new coronavirus. I want to continue," he said.