The prefectural government of Osaka, western Japan, started the operation of a new temporary medical facility dedicated to the treatment of severely ill COVID-19 patients on Tuesday.

The facility in the prefecture’s namesake capital has 30 beds for such patients. The opening came after the prefectural government managed to secure 130 nurses necessary to put the facility into operation, thanks to support from the National Governors’ Association and the Self-Defense Forces.

The prefabricated facility is located on the premises of the Osaka General Medical Center.

All of the facility’s beds are equipped with artificial respirators.

The facility, which has no extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, or ECMO, system installed, is designed to accept novel coronavirus patients who have come out of a critical state but still have severe symptoms. It was established with the aim of reducing the bed occupancy rate for seriously ill COVID-19 patients in the prefecture.

On Tuesday, five beds at the facility were made ready for accepting several patients.

“Experts have been dispatched from various institutions thanks to everyone who supported us,” said Satoshi Fujimi, head of the new facility.

Among the staff at the facility are three nurses dispatched from the SDFs.

As of Monday, Osaka had a total of 191 hospital beds for severely ill COVID-19 patients, excluding those at the new facility. The bed occupancy rate for such patients in the prefecture has stayed above 80 pct since late November.

JIJI Press