Medical Services Still Insufficient in Tsunami-Hit Areas

Tokyo, Sept. 10 (Jiji Press)--Pacific coast areas in northeastern Japan hit by massive tsunami triggered by the March 2011 earthquake are still facing a lack of medical services because some damaged medical institutions are taking time to restart their operations and others were forced to shut down. To help address a shortage of medical staff in affected areas in the three hardest-hit prefectures of Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima, the Japanese government has taken special measures such as an easing in the required number of nurses. But the measures have not produced effects in these areas, which had suffered from chronic shortages of medical services even before the disaster. Many local people have given up going to hospital, raising concern about their health conditions. In the Iwate city of Rikuzentakata, which was heavily damaged by the tsunami, 13 of the 20 medical institutions have reopened operations, with some of the others having been closed. Some residents thus need to spend a whole day to go to hospital. A prefectural hospital in the city is now accepting doctors from other hospitals both in and outside of the prefecture. But it is uncertain if the personnel support system can be sustained, an Iwate prefectural government official says. The situation is even worse in the Miyagi town of Minamisanriku, where only two of the 13 medical institutions have reopened. Many hospitals remain unable to decide on the reopening of their operations because of uncertainties about the town's reconstruction plan, says an official of a public health center. Patients in serious conditions and needing emergency care must be sent to the neighboring city of Ishinomaki. But even an ambulance takes more than 30 minutes to travel from Minamisanriku to Ishinomaki. Ishinomaki itself faces a shortage of medical services. "Some people have stopped going to hospital," says an official at the Ishinomaki municipal government. The city provides health consultation services mainly for evacuees living in temporary housing to help them prevent illness. In Iwate, prefectural hospitals in the towns of Yamada and Otsuchi were damaged by the March 2011 tsunami, and each of the two lost 60 beds. Prefectural hospitals in neighboring areas are accepting patients from the two towns who need hospitalization. But patients and their families are finding it very difficult to go to hospitals outside of their areas, an Iwate prefectural government official says. "We want to give them a sense of security as early as possible," the official adds, emphasizing the importance of restoring local hospitals. A municipal hospital in Ishinomaki was destroyed by the tsunami. It has restarted services by setting up a makeshift clinic. But it cannot accept patients requiring emergency care or hospitalization. As a result, patients flock to the Japanese Red Cross Ishinomaki Hospital. At the facility, the number of new patients requiring hospitalization and that of patients needing emergency care have shot up 20 pct and 40 pct, respectively, from predisaster levels. To deal with the situation, the hospital is shortening the period during which patients are allowed to be hospitalized. Hospitals in Fukushima Prefecture are struggling to secure staff since concerns persist about radioactive contamination caused by the severe accident at Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s <9501> Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power station knocked out by the quake and tsunami. The number of nurses has dropped at a major hospital run by the city of Mimamisoma in the prefecture. "Even if we hire new nurses, they quit soon," an official at the hospital says. The hospital has 230 beds, but has decided to use up to only 150 of them due to the manpower shortage. The Odaka hospital, also run by the city, plans to reopen its internal medicine department in April 2014. But a hospital official says, "We are not sure whether we can secure enough doctors and nurses." END