KOFU -- The Kofu Area Fire Department has started using tablet devices at the sites of disasters and emergencies in Kofu and surrounding areas in Yamanashi Prefecture to interpret conversations with foreign visitors.
The department introduced the system on July 1 as the number of foreign visitors to the prefecture is expected to rise ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Paramedics can use the tablets to call interpreters via video phone to request assistance.
Last year, ambulances were dispatched 252 times to assist foreigners, an increase from 227 in 2017. In light of these circumstances, the department decided to introduce the use of tablets so paramedics can ask foreign visitors about their health and condition through an interpreter.
When personnel run an app on the tablet and select a language, they are connected to the call center of an interpretation agency, and an interpreter appears on the screen.
When a paramedic speaks in Japanese into the tablet's camera with a question about the patient's condition, the on-screen interpreter translates the question before translating the answer into Japanese.
The service is available in English, Chinese, Vietnamese, Nepalese, Hindi and seven other languages, with English, Chinese, Korean, Portuguese and Spanish interpretation available around the clock. The tablet is available at each of the three fire stations at the department.
On June 25, the Minami Fire Station in Kofu conducted a drill using the tablet under a scenario in which a foreign man was found lying in a street.
When a paramedic asked in Japanese via the tablet, "Please ask what is wrong with him," an interpreter asked in English, "Do you have any pain?"
When the foreign man said he had a "stomachache," the interpreter translated the answer into Japanese.
Paramedics who participated in the drill said the system was easy to use. They also said they could clearly hear the voice of the interpreter.
However, there was the view that the use of an interpreter could delay the transport of patients to hospital.
"We'd like to conduct exercises to fully utilize the device so that we can smoothly obtain information about the condition of foreign visitors during disasters and emergencies," department official Masashi Tanaka said.
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