Japan govt eyes subsidising hospitals to combat flu

In an effort to better deal with the swine flu outbreak in the country the Japanese government is eyeing subsidising hospitals and clinics.

It also plans to expand scope of recipients receiving subsidy from the current 6,000 designated hospitals, officials said.

The Health, Labour and Welfare Ministry envisions earmarking a budget of around 20.7 billion yen in the next fiscal beginning March and executing part of the budget earlier to combat the epidemic this fiscal year, they said.

The sum of the intended budget includes money not only for the improvement of medical facilities but also for reinforcing quarantine systems and the purchase of vaccine.

 

About 100 quarantine officers and doctors would be added to beef up the quarantine setups, while the government plans to buy all domestically produced new-flu vaccines before they go into circulation.

The recipients of the subsidies would be increased on line with new government guidelines which now makes it mandatory to examine patients with fever instead of previous rule which said that patients suspected of being infected with new flu must contact designated hospitals.

Hospitals that will receive the subsidies will have to increase the number of beds in the hospital for flu patients and as well set up isolation wards.