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ãã€ã³ã¿ãã¥ãŒãHow Japan survived covid-19 2022/3/31
ããIt was not an easy process for the public to get vaccinated, however. Because responsibility for vaccinating fell to each municipal government, the vaccination schedule was erratic across the country. Residents were required to secure a vaccination inoculation ticket number online, and then wait for a voucher and another form to arrive by post.
ãWorking with patients in all age groups at three clinics across Tokyoâas well as foreign residents in JapanâEiji Kusumi says that the multiple hurdles of online reservation, language barrier (the website was in Japanese only), and the lack of IT skills among all populations âworked well for the government,â in the sense that there were only a small number of vaccines available at the time. âLater, it made citizens feel that they are ignored by the government, especially the younger people, since they were not able to get vaccinated anytime soon,â says Kusumi.
ãThe Tokyo Olympics arrived in July 2021, and so did the delta variant. Once again, there were not enough beds in Tokyoâs hospitals. âPublic hospitals were not accepting covid patients. Funds were given to the National Health Organisation and the Japan Community Healthcare Organisation, but they were not accepting covid-19 patients,â says Kusumi.
ãHis disappointment with the two medical bodies can be best understood in the way in which GPs like him were able to test patients but unable to admit them. âOne of my patients, who was in his 50s, died in his home, while we were trying to secure a hospital bed for him with the local health office of Shinjuku,â says Kusumi, adding that since only younger people were seeking online consultations, there is a high possibility that many older people died in their homes without having seen any doctor.
ãDuring the early days of the delta variant, Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike blamed the cityâs adult entertainment industry for the rapid transmission. âThis pushed people working late at night in these businesses to avoid vaccination, as a show of resistance, for being blamed as the enemy of the public,â says Kusumi.
ãKusumi says he often dreamt of patients not finding beds. âThe biggest stress was the powerlessness. Fortunately, none of my staff quit, because I was always telling them that we were doing the right thing: testing patients, providing online consultations, and doing the best we could.â
ãâPositive PCR [polymerase chain reaction] tests exceeded 60% at my clinicsâthat was 12 times more covid patients than the government data. But since only severely ill people were being sent to the hospital, such data were not recorded,â says Kusumi, adding that the 30 doctors across his three clinics were mostly consulting patients online and could only prescribe medication to control the symptoms.ã
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