Displaying items by tag: hospitals

A month before the Olympics opening ceremony, many Japanese people remain resolutely opposed to the Games, amid fears that the influx of athletes, sport officials and journalists could worsen the continuing Covid outbreak in Tokyo and across the country. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) and organisers are steadfast in their resolve to continue with the Games as anti-virus measures remain in place; they promise stringent protocols will prevent 93,000 visitors from worsening Japan’s outbreak. But questions still outnumber answers. Doctors and healthcare workers have the strongest opposition voices – an infection surge could overwhelm healthcare systems. ‘Front-line medical workers are being treated as disposable,’ said a 27-year-old nurse in Tokyo.Another factor fuelling public opposition is the sluggish pace of Japan’s vaccine rollout. A former Olympic athlete said the safety of people is not considered the priority. Instead, the IOC’s own interests are being considered the priority.

Hospitals rely on daily oxygen deliveries, but they are constantly sending desperate messages for extra supplies. A doctor described the situation: ‘Once you've emptied your main tank, there is nothing to fall back on’. Delhi is running out of cremation space for Covid dead. Pyres burn in families’ gardens. One doctor says hospital patients dying without oxygen prevents him sleeping: ‘I should be concentrating on treating my patients, not running around to get oxygen.’ Many hospitals face the same ordeal. Federal officials reported ‘no shortage of oxygen’, and say the challenge has come from transportation. People are paying a price for political wrangling between the state and federal governments. The price is their life. In November a parliamentary standing committee on health warned of inadequate oxygen supplies and ‘grossly inadequate’ government hospital beds. On 5 May the Supreme Court decided against immediately punishing Indian officials for failing to end an erratic supply. However, significant amounts of oxygen and ventilators are now reaching India from Europe and the USA.

The Archbishop of Canterbury has launched Together in Unity to support Anglican communities suffering from the pandemic. The unprecedented and devastating effect of coronavirus on global communities already impacted by conflict, natural disaster, and famine means they are ill-equipped to implement even the most basic hygiene and sanitation measures. Hospitals and clinics are without critical supplies, and lockdown measures have brought wages down to zero. Funds raised through the UK appeal will be distributed to coronavirus-response projects. Also, in the UK people have been making thousands of scrubs and walking miles to raise money for Hospitals. But Asian Christian hospitals have no such support and no government funding. People walk for days or travel on hot overcrowded trains to clinics, but lockdown and widespread fear of the virus has led many people to skip treatments at missionary clinics and hospitals that depend on income from routine treatments to pay staff. See

Social media videos show patients in overcrowded hospitals, as over 1,600 people have been hospitalised in eastern Turkey after a 6.7 magnitude earthquake. At least 36 people have died. Most of the injured were in Elazig province, the epicentre of the earthquake. 3,699 search and rescue personnel have been deployed. Fifteen aftershocks have been felt in the wake, with the strongest registering at 5.4. ‘All relevant departments are taking measures to ensure the safety of citizens following the earthquake’, said President Erdoğan.

Irish hospitals with a Catholic ethos will be expected to carry out abortions when the country’s new laws on terminations come into effect, the Taoiseach has made clear. Leo Varadkar said that while individual doctors, nurses or midwives could opt out of performing procedures on conscience grounds, entire institutions will not have that option. He was addressing concerns about surgical abortions. The government is drafting legislation to allow any woman to request an abortion up to 12 weeks, subject to a cooling-off period, and to allow abortion in extreme cases between 12 and 24 weeks. This was after citizens voted two-to-one in a referendum to repeal the state’s constitutional ban on abortions. The Taoiseach said the legislation would follow the model of the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act 2013, which allowed for terminations in extreme medical circumstances and for individual medics to opt out.

The Prime Minister has apologised for the postponement of thousands of routine operations at hospitals due to winter pressures. The services are being placed under significant strain as they enter the New Year. As challenges escalate, hospitals are on the cusp of being as bad as 2017 when the Red Cross called it a humanitarian crisis. This year hospitals are prioritising the increased numbers of emergency patients over non-urgent planned services. Pray for God to comfort those whose operations have had to be postponed. Additional services and beds are coming available, funded by the winter budget cash released by the Government. Pray for wise distribution of resources. The BMA said, ‘A&Es are symptomatic of pressures across the system. Hospitals are at capacity, GP surgeries are full, and because of shortages of social and community care, patients who no longer need to be in hospital cannot be discharged - there’s nowhere for them to go.’ See:

A pilot scheme in Essex, called CareRooms, would have patients waiting for discharge from hospital staying with local residents who have a spare room. Increasingly, hospitals are full of patients who have nowhere to go. NHS figures show that last year 2.2 million hospital ‘bed days’ in England were lost due to delayed transfers of care. NHS bodies and local authorities are in preliminary discussions on the project. Chief Medical Officer Dr Harry Thirkettle said that such patients would be transferred to residential homes because they either live alone, don’t have support, or have mobility issues. So someone with a leg fracture and unable to go up and down their stairs until that fracture is healed, could come and stay in ground-floor accommodation. Hosts would be paid for this service; they could earn up to £1,000 a month.