At a hospital in Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture, which accepts patients with the new coronavirus, the beds for corona patients continue to be almost full.
Physicians on the ground are raising a sense of crisis, saying, ``Some people may be delayed in receiving appropriate treatment.''
Kanagawa Prefecture's hospital bed occupancy rate was 81%, the highest in Japan as of the end of last month. , The elderly who have been infected with the new coronavirus and whose underlying diseases have deteriorated continue to be almost fully occupied.
According to the hospital, it is becoming difficult to arrange beds when corona patients are transferred to other hospitals in the prefecture, and some patients have to wait for about a day in emergency outpatient cots that are not usually in use. It means that there is also something.
On the other hand, since local clinics are closed on holidays, the number of patients visiting the emergency department has more than doubled. A man with cancer was diagnosed as positive in the corona test.
Also, at this time of winter, there are more patients who are transported by ambulance due to illnesses such as strokes and injuries due to falls, but as we have secured beds for new corona patients, general hospital beds are decreasing. On the 9th, there were cases where we had to refuse to accept patients who needed treatment due to fractures.
Toshitaka Ito, director of the emergency center at Shin-Yurigaoka General Hospital, said, ``Many elderly people with underlying diseases have died due to deterioration, but the beds are tight, so we can't hospitalize all of them. Even those who are sick are being examined at home or at a facility as much as possible.