Increasing number of patients with fever rejected by Tokyo hospitals+

TOKYO, May 5 Kyodo -
An increasing number of patients with fever have been rejected by hospitals in
Tokyo even though their risk of being infected with a new type of influenza is
low, given that they have never been to any of the countries affected by the
new flu, a Tokyo metropolitan government survey showed Tuesday.
The number of cases in which Tokyo hospitals refused medical examinations for
such patients totaled 92 from Saturday morning to Tuesday noon, according to
the survey.
''We want hospitals to respond calmly even if they fear that patients infected
with the new flu may appear or that other patients will get infected,'' a Tokyo
metropolitan government official said.
In many cases, patients with fever were told to visit ''fever clinics'' set up
solely to treat people suspected of being infected with the new strain of the
H1N1 influenza A virus, according to the survey.
Some patients were rejected by hospitals after telling them, ''I work at Narita
airport'' or ''I have a foreign friend,'' the survey showed.
In some cases, those who were told by fever clinics to go to general hospitals
were then rejected by them.
The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry plans to conduct a nationwide survey on
such rejections by hospitals, ministry officials said.
No cases of the new flu have yet been confirmed in Japan, although there have
been several cases in which patients tested positive for the influenza A virus
which turned out to be different strains.
The Tokyo metropolitan government's division in charge of infectious diseases
said hospitals' refusal to conduct medical examinations could be a violation of
the medical practitioners' law.
''We will consider some sort of measures against malicious refusals to conduct
medical examinations by hospitals,'' a division official said.
==Kyodo
2009-05-05 22:40:21