Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga has expressed an intention to increase government subsidies for hospitals accepting patients infected with the novel coronavirus in Tokyo, Saitama, Chiba and Kanagawa prefectures by up to 4.5 million yen per bed.
With such additional aid, the amount of the subsidies will rise to about 20 million yen per bed for seriously ill patients and 9 million yen per bed for patients with moderate or mild symptoms.
Amid a growing shortage of hospital beds for patients infected with the virus, the increase of the subsidies is intended to secure such beds with cooperation from private hospitals, which appear to have accepted fewer COVID-19 patients than public medical facilities have taken in.
"Measures will be taken to make it possible to substantially increase the number of hospital beds for coronavirus patients in Tokyo and the three [neighboring] prefectures," Suga said at a press conference on Thursday.
In other prefectures, up to 3 million yen will be additionally paid per hospital bed for COVID-19 patients. Under the current system, the government pays a subsidy of up to 15 million yen per bed for seriously ill patients and up to 4.5 million yen per bed for patients with moderate or mild conditions.
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