＜prologue＞
I started a blog called “The Baby Boomer Generation’s Miscellaneous Blog”（Dankai-sedai no garakutatyou:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳） in July 2018, about a year before I fully retired. More than six years have passed since then, and the number of articles has increased considerably.
So, in order to make them accessible to people who don’t understand Japanese, I decided to translate my past articles into English and publish them.
It may sound a bit exaggerated, but I would like to make this my life’s work.
It should be noted that haiku and waka （Japanese short fixed form poems） are quite difficult to translate into English, so some parts are written in Japanese.
If you are interested in haiku or waka and would like to know more, please read introductory or specialized books on haiku or waka written in English.
I also write many articles about the Japanese language. I would be happy if these inspire more people to want to learn Japanese.
my blog’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳 | 団塊世代が雑学や面白い話を発信しています
my X’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多帳（@historia49) on X
(Reference) Original article in Japanese
・コロナ禍の中、病院の「発熱外来」の対応がスムーズに行かない現状はおかしい！
1. My son came home from work with a high fever, and I was worried he might have COVID-19, so I rushed to call.
On the evening of May 3rd, my son came home from work and said, “My temperature is almost 38 degrees Celsius, and I have severe chills and fatigue, so I think I might have COVID-19.” I rushed to take action.
I put my son to bed as soon as he finished dinner.
(1) The Takatsuki City Public Health Center’s “Consultation Center” was constantly busy.
Because it was during Golden Week in May, my regular doctor was closed and I couldn’t contact him, so I decided to call the Takatsuki City Public Health Center’s “Consultation Center.”
Since it wasn’t a weekday, I kept calling the “Nighttime/Holiday Returnee/Contact Consultation Center” (☎050-3531-5598) for over two hours, but it was constantly busy and I couldn’t get through at all.
(2) When I inquired at the Mishima Emergency Medical Center, I was instructed to first call the “Consultation Center.”
So, reluctantly, I called the “Osaka Prefecture Mishima Emergency Medical Center” (☎072-683-9999).
The Mishima Emergency Medical Center stated that “while they have an internal medicine physician, they cannot accept patients with fever unless they first call the Takatsuki City Public Health Center’s Consultation Center.”
Even when I explained that I had tried calling the Consultation Center multiple times but it was constantly busy and I couldn’t get through, they insisted that I keep calling.
(3) When I inquired at Takatsuki Hospital, I was told that they cannot accept patients with fever without instructions from the Consultation Center.
Therefore, I reluctantly called Takatsuki Hospital, a general hospital. Takatsuki Hospital stated that they cannot accept patients with fever without instructions from the Takatsuki City Public Health Center’s Consultation Center.
I was told to give him Loxonin if his fever didn’t go down, so I gave him the Loxonin I had previously received as a painkiller from the dentist to bring down his fever.
I also cooled his head with an ice pack and a cooling gel.
(4) When I called Towakai Hospital, I was instructed to come to the “Fever Clinic” at 8:30 AM the next day.
More than three hours had passed since my son came home, and it was already midnight, but I decided to call another general hospital nearby, Towakai Hospital.
They simply told me, “Please come to the ‘Fever Clinic’ at 8:30 AM the next day.”
I considered calling an ambulance to take him to the hospital, but my son said, “I’m too sick to go to the hospital right now,” so we decided to go to Towakai Hospital the next morning.
2. The next morning, we went to the “Fever Clinic” at Towakai Hospital and received a “PCR test.”
The next morning, we went to Towakai Hospital at 8:00 AM hoping to be the first to be seen, but we were told, “Registration starts at 8:30 AM,” so we waited outside for nearly 30 minutes.
When we entered the hospital around 8:30 AM, several people had already started registering, and my son was angry, saying, “They told me registration would start at 8:30 AM and made me wait outside, this is terrible!” However, I still went and got a PCR test. I’m told the results will be available in about 1-2 days.
3. The current situation where hospitals’ fever clinics are not handling cases smoothly amidst the COVID-19 pandemic is a major problem.
I don’t know how other prefectures and municipalities are handling the situation, but based on my experience from yesterday to today, the handling of fever clinics at places like the Takatsuki City Public Health Center’s Consultation Center, the Osaka Prefecture Mishima Emergency Medical Center, and Takatsuki Hospital is completely inadequate.
The Takatsuki City Public Health Center’s Consultation Center, in particular, is so chaotic that I suspect they’ve left the phone receiver off the hook.
I’ve heard that phone and online reservations for COVID-19 vaccinations are also overwhelmed due to the high volume of inquiries, and the current situation at the consultation centers before going to fever clinics is similar.
I would like to urgently request that the government, Osaka Prefecture, Takatsuki City, and Takatsuki Hospital improve their fever clinic operations so that it’s no longer mandatory to go through the consultation centers, and that each general hospital can handle cases more flexibly.
<Added on 2021/5/5> I was relieved that the PCR test result was negative.