The Tokyo metropolitan government is moving quickly to transport people with mild symptoms to hotels in an effort to prevent "the collapse of medical services," a situation in which medical institutions are unable to accept patients because of the explosive increase in infections. The metropolitan government started operating the second facility on Wednesday and plans to accommodate 3,000 people by the end of June. One doctor who dealt with a patient in the hotel told The Yomiuri Shimbun about some of his experiences.
A 55-year-old doctor of a Tokyo hospital, spoke to a patient over the phone on April 11 at the "Toyoko Inn Tokyo-eki Shin-Ohashi Mae" in Chuo Ward, Tokyo, which accommodates patients with mild symptoms. "I feel anxious and I can't sleep because I have difficulty breathing," said the person on the other end of the line. It was a call from a patient on a different floor through an internal phone. After the doctor carefully explained that the patient was not suffering from any other health problems, the patient seemed to be relieved and hung up. "Even at a hotel, isolation would naturally increase a patients' anxiety," the doctor said. He added that he tried to understand the patient's feelings, but was irritated because he could only offer advice over the phone.
A doctor and two nurses, dispatched by the Tokyo Medical Association on a rotating basis, stay at the hotel, which has 208 rooms and has been accepting patients since April 7. The doctor, a member of the association's emergency committee, volunteered to help. From 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., he stays in a room separated from the infected patients and monitors their health through conversations on the phone. Since, as a general rule, examinations in person are not conducted and prescriptions are not provided, there is no medical equipment at the hotel. As of Wednesday, the hotel had accepted 105 people, and 34 people have been discharged after testing negative for the coronavirus.
The doctor said he was extremely careful when he had to come in contact with infected patients to get samples for the PCR tests. On April 11, he took about an hour to retrieve nasal mucosa samples from 46 people using swabs. Even with a medical gown and goggles, fears of infection sometimes drifted through his head, but he kept telling himself that it would be fine if he took the proper precautions.
If the patient's condition deteriorated, all he could do was to take the patient to a hospital. "I felt like I had to fight the disease without being given the proper equipment as a doctor," he recalled.
It is not easy to secure doctors under the current situation. "Many medical workers are hesitant, considering the risk of infection and the prejudices of people around them," an official of the association said, adding that not a few doctors decline the request by the association.
"I want society to know about the doctors and nurses who have a sense of mission and feel that someone has to help, and I want society to support them," the doctor said enthusiastically.
The second hotel rented by the Tokyo metropolitan government is the "Tokyo Toranomon Tokyu REI Hotel" in Minato Ward, Tokyo, with 431 rooms. It is expected to accept about 200 patients with mild symptoms, including the 11 people who arrived on Wednesday. The metropolitan government plans to rent a third hotel with around 900 rooms in the near future, bringing up the total number of rooms to about 1,500. It plans to accept about 750 patients at a time at these three facilities.
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