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KOBE -- This western Japan city has decided to subsidize obstetrics institutions that accept COVID-19 patients giving birth, after a woman was forced to give birth at home upon being rejected by a hospital because she had the coronavirus.
The municipal government will provide medical institutions with an assistance grant of 300,000 yen (about $2,200) per expectant mother with COVID-19. The number of such women has surged amid Japan's seventh coronavirus wave, and many obstetrics units have been rejecting them because the institutions do not have adequate equipment to prevent the spread of infections or enough medical staff.
The city subsidy program will wind up on Oct. 16. Kobe will also provide 1.5 million yen (approx. $11,000) per month to medical institutions that say they will accept pregnant women with COVID-19 who are not their regular patients.
Between Aug. 1 and 14 in Kobe, there were 24 pregnant coronavirus patients ready to give birth imminently. An increasing number of obstetrics departments have rejected accepting patients if they tested positive, even if they were already having contractions. Four patients apparently found new hospitals through public health centers as they could not deliver their babies at their usual obstetricians.
One patient could not get a hospital bed when her contractions began, and her family helped her give birth at home, following directions from a doctor over the phone. She was hospitalized that day, and both she and her baby are reportedly healthy.
A municipal government official said, "We want as many obstetrics departments as possible to accept patients by tapping the new assistance fund to implement infection prevention measures."
As medical institutions in the city are also having difficulties accepting dialysis patients with the coronavirus, the municipal government will provide facilities aid of 12,000 yen (roughly $90) per day for every infected dialysis patient they take until Oct. 16.
(Japanese original by Shinya Yamamoto, Kobe Bureau)
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