HuMA continues to provide support at the hospital after March in order to alleviate some of the burden on the staff of Keiju Medical Center. Doctors will be engaged in providing medical support in the emergency room.
On the way from Nanao Station to the hospital, we saw stores that had reopened for business and daily life as it was before the earthquake. At the same time, however, we saw vacant houses with “dangerous” signs posted on them and buildings being demolished, indicating that the reconstruction of the city is still in progress. Keiju Medical Center is also undergoing construction to deal with liquefaction and other damage in the surrounding area.
The number of emergency patients received has remained the same as before the earthquake, but because of the lack of a medical system north of Nanao City, it sometimes takes one to two hours for an ambulance to transport a patient. Currently, the emergency department is staffed by a single physician, making it difficult for him to take time off. However, in the future this physician may have the opportunity to take time off to accommodate HuMA’s support schedule, so we feel that this support will be beneficial. The hospital is also planning to incorporate two shifts of residents for educational purposes to coincide with our scheduled support dates in the new year. We would be happy to assist in that as well.
The staff at Keiju Medical Center stated that they are grateful that the hospital is still in a position to provide medical care after the earthquake, which means that they continue to bear the heavy responsibility of supporting local medical care for three months after the acute phase of the earthquake. We hope to share some of the burden with the staff of Keiju Medical Center, who have supported local medical care under more difficult conditions during this period than before the earthquake.