TOKYO: Medical professionals in Tokyo are treating confirmed and suspected coronavirus cases amid fears about getting the virus, sometimes encouraged by and other times worried about the daily number of new cases.  

At Kawakita General Hospital in Tokyo's Suginami Ward, not only pulmonologists but also surgeons and ear and nose doctors are now handling patients, in order to ease the burdens on respiratory medicine doctors.

Doctors see up to some 30 confirmed and suspected patients at the hospital's dedicated outpatient space daily, administering medicine for their symptoms or conducting polymerase chain reaction, or PCR, tests.

Takahiro Okai, deputy head of the hospital, said the emotional burden on doctors is significant.

Each doctor at the hospital can get one N95 high-performance mask a day. There are not enough gowns, and it takes time before new ones are delivered after orders are placed.

"Without 'weapons,' we can't do our job," he said.

Meanwhile, Okai sees a silver lining in the number of new patients in Suginami being about half that of last week.

"We feel anxious if the number keeps rising. But if the number falls, we think we can keep going a bit more," he said.

The burdens caused by the coronavirus are also shouldered by nurses.

"We think about how we can protect ourselves and our patients," said Kyoko Nagaike, 64-year-old head of nursing at Kawakita Medical Foundation, which runs the hospital. "The stress is high," she said.

At the hospital's branch facility, a pair of nurses is assigned to each infected inpatient. When one is in the patient's room, the other stays outside entering the person's symptoms on a computer and preparing intravenous drips.

Some doctors and nurses are staying at hotel rooms the hospital has rented and do not go home to avoid the risk of exposing family members to the virus.

There are some empty beds now at the hospital, but Nagaike said, "We worry whether we will be able to cope if the number of infected people goes up sharply."

She urged people to continue following requests from the authorities to stay at home and make other efforts to keep the virus from spreading.

JIJI Press