Photo/Illutration Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga speaks at a meeting of the Lower House Budget Committee on Jan. 26. (Kotaro Ebara)

Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga has apologized for the national health care system being poorly equipped to deal with the third wave of the novel coronavirus pandemic, as public health centers and hospitals are being overwhelmed.

“As the person who is in charge, I am deeply sorry,” Suga said on Jan. 26 at a Lower House Budget Committee session, referring to the many people around the country who have tested positive for the virus but have not been provided immediate care and treatment.

“We are not equipped to provide the necessary medical care. And that is what the people are feeling uneasy about, I believe,” Suga said, responding to a question from Kiyomi Tsujimoto, a lawmaker of the opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan.

Tsujimoto grilled Suga over the central government’s inadequate responses to the pandemic.

She also urged the central government not to add the costs to operate the infamous Go To Travel tourism campaign to the third supplemental budget.

“We need more policies to boost the health care system. If the prime minister decides to shift budgetary allocations to health care, everybody will support it,” Tsujimoto said.

But Suga justified the budget for the Go To Travel campaign, a pet project of the prime minister's, which was suspended amid rising COVID-19 cases. 

“We have secured the necessary budget for health care. It is obvious that we are fully committed to tackling the novel coronavirus pandemic. I will entrust the Cabinet to do that thoroughly,” Suga said.

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