TOKYO , Yoshihiko Takeuchi was a Japanese restaurant owner on Okinawa. He told just a few of his friends that he had the coronavirus. After he failed to answer three days’ worth of phone calls from health workers, police arrived at his house and discovered him dead in his bed.
He was one of hundreds of people who died as a result of “jitaku ryoyo,” a policy that allows COVID-19 patients to “recover at home.”
Many people with the virus will stay at home in order to recover. However, critics claim that in Japan, which has one of the most accessible and affordable health care systems in the world, patients were denied access to hospital care and this policy amounts to “jitaku hi,” or “abandonment home.”
Takeuchi’s sister, and the daughter of another man who was killed at home by COVID-19, have created an online support group to help grieving relatives of these victims.
Japan’s caseloads have fallen dramatically over the past two months. The government has created a roadmap to help improve its pandemic response. The government adopted a plan on Nov. 12, which aims to provide beds for 37,000 patients in the country by November. This is an increase from 28,000.
According to government data, this compares to the 231,000 coronavirus victims who needed hospitalization in August. Many needed to be treated at home.
Fumio Kishida, Prime Minister, also promised that COVID-19 patients suffering from mild symptoms would be regularly visited at home by health care workers.
These changes are driven by public anger at the insufficient treatment of the country with the largest number per capita of beds. After only one year in office, Kishida’s predecessor Yoshihide Sug resigned due to widespread dissatisfaction about the government’s pandemic response.
In a society that is dominated by conformism like Japan, speaking up requires courage. Class action lawsuits are very rare. Kaori Takada and other members of her group believe that their loved ones were not receiving the medical care they deserve.
She said, “I had to raise mine voice.”
She’s not sure what to do. Many people are following the group on Twitter and other members have shared similar stories.
Takada, a Japanese woman who lives in Osaka, runs a small nursery at her home and is Takeuchi’s only relative. He did not tell her that he was ill at home, although they spoke over the phone. He didn’t want the word out because of Japanese phobias about COVID-19.
Takada stated that he was gentle and loved by many.
She said that she was trying to heal, shared how people were treated cruelly and helping each other make the first steps forward.
Japan’s local public hospitals, which are responsible for COVID-19 patient care, had difficulty finding hospitals willing to admit them. Sometimes, ambulances were shuffled from one hospital to another.
A few temporary facilities were available for treatment and supplemental oxygen. However, calls to establish large field hospitals were ignored.
New York’s hospitals were quick to convert, adding thousands more beds and ICUs for patients with virus. One Navy medical ship was converted into a makeshift hospital, along with other facilities. More than 1,600 hospitalizations were made every day in the city at peak levels during the outbreak, which occurred in April 2020.
When the number of infections in Japan rose with the spread the delta variant of the virus, Japan’s hospitals were quickly declared “stretched thin” despite having had far fewer COVID-19-related cases than Europe, the U.S. and other Asian and South American nations. According to records from the Health Ministry, there were more than 134,000 people infected at home with the virus by September 1.
In a country of 126 millions, approximately 18,000 Japanese have been killed by COVID-19-related causes. The exact number of people who died at home is unknown, but the National Police Agency (which tracks deaths) reported that 951 people had died at home since March 2020. 250 were killed in August 2021.
Shigeru Omi is a top government advisor on coronavirus, and the head of Japan Community Health Care Organization (JCHO), has asked the government to establish emergency field hospitals to prevent “jitaku ryoyo” deaths.
Japan’s healthcare system is dominated in Japan by private clinics and small hospitals. Inpatient facilities are not equipped to treat infectious diseases. There are many beds occupied by patients with psychiatric disorders, the elderly, and intensive care specialists.
Some hospitals were able to take patients who had been treated in larger hospitals and were not infectious or rehabilitating from serious illnesses after being transferred to these hospitals. However, overall the caseloads outnumbered the critical care beds.
JCHO manages 57 of Japan’s largest hospitals. All of them are heavily subsidized with taxpayer money. According to the Health Ministry, it paid up to 100,000 yen ($900 per bed) for COVID-19 patients.
JCHO reported that it had prepared 972 beds for patients with the virus in October. This is less than 7% of its 14,000 total beds. However, it did temporarily make room for 1,800 patients in August.
JCHO declined comment to Kishida’s request for thousands more beds.
Nagoya University’s critical care physician, Dr. Takanori Yamamoto believes that hospital care should be restructured so that patients with serious illnesses are treated in designated facilities and not spread across multiple small hospitals with a few ICU beds.
He said that resources were not managed properly, leading to widespread hospitalizations for people who did not need it. He said that public health bureaus were not designed to dole out COVID-19 treatment and are best suited for research.
Yamamoto is concerned that Japan will not be able to withstand the next pandemic because of its decades-old system.
“No other country turned away patients in this way, even those with more cases. It is absurd to think that doctors will not see patients. Yamamoto stated that doctors must take care of patients if they are to be considered doctors.
“Japan has not done anything. He said that there has not been any leadership.
It is time to act now, before another wave coronavirus infection hits, stated Dr. Kenji Shibuya of the Tokyo Foundation for Policy Research. This independent think tank has a research director.
Shibuya, who is British and has worked in Britain, said that they didn’t take action before. He said, “It’s about a lack in commitment, lack, will, and lack of passion to make changes at a time when there is crisis.”
Yuko Nishizato (co-founder of Takada’s group) pleaded with hospitals to admit her father, aged 73, back in August. He died from COVID-19 after he tested positive. There was no treatment for the fever.
Telephone records reveal that he called the local public hospital numerous times up until his death. It broke her heart to learn that all she got was recordings.
“I wanted him live to see his grandchildren. Nishizato stated that he wanted to see a more mature me. “There are many people who have been through the same thing, and I don’t know why.”
