20% of public health center staff overworked with COVID duties

Over 20 percent of public health care center staff in many of Japan's 47 prefectures suffered from overwork

Overwork in Japan? Not limited to public health care in Japan, do they get paid for their overtime?

20% of public health center staff overworked with COVID duties

Perhaps the 80% who are apparently not overworked can lend a helping hand to the overworked 20%.

the public health sector is woefully inefficient because it mostly consists of disconnected private-sector institutions, which are tribal in nature don't share much information among themselves. For the end user, that means wasteful, duplicated testing and procedures and other inefficiencies.

for example, the PCR tests done by my ward are not recognized (for some reason) for international travel. So if just had a PCR test contracted by a company and organized by my ward, and then I wanted to travel, I would need to go to another company that issues travel certificates and be handled by another group of people and their facilities for the same procedure. Double the trouble!

So Japan needs an especially high number of healthcare workers and facilities. This puts huge strains on the system. It needs to be consolidated and nationalized with common data bases, etc.

Over 20 percent of public health care center staff in many of Japan's 47 prefectures suffered from overwork last year due to their duties in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, reaching a level that could increase the risk of death, according to a survey by an umbrella organization of labor unions.

The LDP solution: Let's not subsidize the criminally low wages, subsidize training to swell the ranks of these workers and address the problems of attrition in overwork.

A better use of public funds is paying eateries to close by 8. And lets get ready to start those GoTo subsidies again the moment the quasi-emergency is lifted!

Tragic Disaster capitalism in action.

Strange, my local hospital has a shortage of patients. One minute to be seen, compared to up to three hours a year or two ago.

Yowza. When the government says up to 100 hours of OVERTIME is acceptable and not detrimental to one's health, they've REALLY gotta be overworked.

No wonder. This is one of reasons why I've proposed that covid be recategorized and downgraded to an endemic level alongside common flu types. Under the current arrangment the Pulic Heath Centres staff must continue to treat covid just like top deadly infectious diseases, which lead inevitably to severe manpower and resource shortage. The health ministry designates covid, especially now dominant Omicron as dangerous as tuberculosis, H5N1, MERS, or more killing than cholera and dysentery.

Meanwhile Japanese healcare workers, a large majority of whome are private and ordinary, have been techinically prohibited from covid treatment as by law only designated staff and hospitals should handle covid affairs. They can and should share burdens and responsibility if granted.

And the other 80% are overworked with normal duties.

No wonder. This is one of reasons why I've proposed that covid be recategorized and downgraded to an endemic level alongside common flu types.

Hopefully they act on it soon

The debate over whether to downgrade the disease — which is currently classified alongside some of the most serious infectious diseases — to a less-threatening Class V disease and in the same category as influenza, has been gaining particular traction recently as people from many circles, including Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike, insist the time is ripe to discuss the issue. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, however, has said he’s not going to make the change anytime soon as infection numbers are still on the rise.

In Japan, infectious diseases are placed into one of eight classifications: Class I through Class V and three others for diseases that have the potential to affect the lives of people because of their high transmissibility: novel influenza infectious diseases, designated infectious diseases and new infectious diseases. Class I diseases, such as Ebola, are considered the most dangerous. Class II includes tuberculosis.

Currently, COVID-19 is legally classified as a “novel influenza infectious disease,” entailing some countermeasures that are equivalent to those for Classes I and II. The proposed change to a Class V disease would not mean that the coronavirus has become less threatening, but the revision would allow suspected patients to get treatment at any hospital using health insurance at their own cost, rather than having all the medical fees paid through taxes.

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2022/01/28/national/omicron-covid-endgame/

"It is necessary to increase the number of staff," Haruki Hirayama, head of the group's division on sanitation and medical care, said at a press conference.

And what do these staff do?

Collate and go through questionnaires for the sole purpose of gathering statistics.

These staff do not provide medical care but give scant advice to the millions brainwashed by the number of cases but not….deaths

Its not overwork thats the problem as the Japanese media likes to often pound into everyone.

Its the work without pay, essentially stealing from the common man or woman, taking their life (time) and threatening their livelihood if you don’t do it.

Stop working without pay. 80 hours of overtime should result in thousands of dollars added to your salary. Then you wont be nearly as depressed (at first lol)