What is it going to take for Japan to act and ensure that this is a thing of the past?
Sapporo hospitals refused four pregnant women last year, even though the women were taken to them in emergency conditions, the city said Tuesday.
None of the women suffered a miscarriage, but one in her teens was rejected 11 times and it took her 90 minutes to reach a hospital after calling an ambulance, it said.
A fifth woman, who was suspected of being pregnant, was also rejected, the local authority said.
The five women called ambulances while suffering abdominal pains or bleeding.
They were rejected by the hospitals for such reasons as “no doctors available” or “doctors are currently treating patients,” it said.
Just last week another woman who was refused by NINE hospitals, only to lose her baby when the ambulance she was in was involved in an automobile accident.
This type of thing happens a lot in Japan, and not just to pregnant woment.
Behind this issue, we hear there are two problems.
1. The doctors(especially lady’s doctors) are often under overwork. Nowadays in Japan the numbers of babies have been decreasing and the hospitals can’t afford hire many gynecologists.
2. The emergency information network or its logistics are probably not well constructed.
The existence of those problems are exposed several times in the news papers or on TV. But it seems the thing hasn’t much improved. Is it the collective illness of the hospital managers ?