The Japanese government is considering seeking a law revision to allow the state and prefectural governors to urge hospitals to accept patients with COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, informed sources said Friday.

The government hopes the law revision will help eliminate shortages of hospital beds for COVID-19 patients that are becoming serious chiefly in 11 prefectures covered by its ongoing state of emergency over the coronavirus.

The government is also considering disclosing the names of hospitals that refuse to accept COVID-19 patients without due reasons, the sources said.

It plants to submit a bill to revise the infectious disease law to the ordinary session of the Diet, the country’s parliament, to be convened on Monday.

Under the current law, the health minister and prefectural governors can seek cooperation from doctors and others to prevent infections from spreading.

The government aims to entitle the minister and governors to urge hospitals to accept COVID-19 patients, instead of only asking them to do so as allowed under the current law, the sources said.

Japan is facing a third wave of coronavirus infections, with the number of patients surging since November last year. Many regions are now experiencing shortages of hospital beds for COVID-19 patients.

On Wednesday, a health ministry advisory board said that it has become increasingly difficult for hospitals to balance the treatment of coronavirus patients with ordinary medical care, with more and more COVID-19 patients struggling to find hospital beds or other places for receiving treatment.

As some people claim that private hospitals still have room for COVID-19 beds, the envisaged law revision is being considered for urging them to accept more patients of the disease, the sources said.

JIJI Press