What's scary is that things looked so good for Japan over the past few months. I don't know if underreporting was a part of that but nevertheless, it's a reminder how fast things can take a turn...
What's scary is that things looked so good for Japan over the past few months. I don't know if underreporting was a part of that but nevertheless, it's a reminder how fast things can take a turn for the worse.
Hospitals in Japan are increasingly turning away sick people as the country struggles with surging coronavirus infections and its emergency medical system collapses.
In one recent case, an ambulance carrying a man with a fever and difficulty breathing was rejected by 80 hospitals and forced to search for hours for a hospital in downtown Tokyo that would treat him. Another feverish man finally reached a hospital after paramedics unsuccessfully contacted 40 clinics.
The Japanese Association for Acute Medicine and the Japanese Society for Emergency Medicine say many hospital emergency rooms are refusing to treat people including those suffering strokes, heart attacks and external injuries.
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Japan lacks enough hospital beds, medical workers or equipment. Forcing hospitalization of anyone with the virus, even those with mild symptoms, has left hospitals overcrowded and understaffed.
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Japanese hospitals also lack ICUs, with only five per 100,000 people, compared to about 30 in Germany, 35 in the U.S. and 12 in Italy, said Osamu Nishida, head of the Japanese Society of Intensive Care Medicine.
What's scary is that things looked so good for Japan over the past few months. I don't know if underreporting was a part of that but nevertheless, it's a reminder how fast things can take a turn for the worse.
From the article:
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