In response to the rapid surge in infections with the new coronavirus, people are increasingly avoiding going to the hospital or hesitating to have operations due to fears of catching the virus at the hospital.
This trend is likely to grow now that a state of emergency has been declared, but some people do require medical care. As there are also fears that doctors and others may become infected with the virus through operating on infected patients, the Japan Surgical Society and other such groups have made public their classifications of how urgently different cases require an operation.
"I'm afraid to go to a hospital, waiting in a blood-sampling room and a consulting room," a patient with kidney trouble recently told a urologist in Tokyo. The doctor told them, "People whose condition is stable had better not come to the hospital, if possible."
In areas where there are many infections with the new coronavirus, patients with other illnesses tend to avoid seeing doctors. As patients with chronic illnesses are likely to become seriously ill when infected with the virus, many are afraid of catching it at medical institutions where various types of patients gather.
There has also been a conspicuous number of cases in which hospitals have decided to postpone operations or suspend the acceptance of outpatients. Some hospitals have already been driven to near capacity in the acceptance and treatment of inpatients with serious symptoms of the coronavirus, while others are concerned about the possible spread of nosocomial infections through asymptomatic outpatients.
If a patient refrains from receiving medical examination and treatment to an excessive degree, however, their illness could worsen and they might even die, depending on the type of ailment involved.
Leading surgical societies, including the Japan Surgical Society, on April 1 made public the classification of cases according to the degree of urgency for an operation.
There are three categories: 1) not fatal, thus not requiring immediate action; 2) has a latent possibility of threatening the patient's life or putting them in serious condition; an operation should be postponed if possible; and 3) could be fatal if a patient does not undergo an operation in a few days or within a few months.
The first category includes such operations as those for cataracts, a large bowel endoscopy and the removal of polyps. Included in the second category are procedures for cancers with a low degree of malignancy, relatively non-urgent orthopedic operations, and ureteral stones in stable condition.
The third category involves operations on various types of cancer and cardiac surgery.
Even if patients do not undergo surgical operations, those who have continually been to the hospital for examinations and treatment need to hear the opinions of experts before refraining from receiving medical consultations based on their own judgment.
"We want patients to be in close contact with their usual doctors -- over the phone, for instance -- and make prudent decisions," said Masahiro Akishita, a professor at the division of geriatric medicine at the University of Tokyo Hospital.
Read more from The Japan News at https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/
