Photo/Illutration Nurses receive training at the Osaka COVID-19 critical care center in Osaka city in December 2020. (Pool)

OSAKA--The central government will dispatch around 90 nurses to Osaka Prefecture where the health care system has been battered by the resurgence in novel coronavirus infections, Osaka Governor Hirofumi Yoshimura said April 20.

About 50 of the nurses are expected to work at the Osaka COVID-19 critical care center in Osaka city for more than two weeks to treat patients with serious symptoms.

The center has 30 hospital beds for such patients, but only 21 of them have been used because of a shortage of medical staff. With the extra nurses, all of the beds are expected to be filled within this week.

The 50 nurses all have experience with intensive care units.

The remaining 40 nurses will be dispatched to various hospitals in the prefecture to help provide medical care for COVID-19 patients.

Shortages of medical staff, such as nurses, have also raised concerns about Japan’s COVID-19 vaccination program.

Health minister Norihisa Tamura told an April 20 news conference after a Cabinet meeting that in exceptional cases, dentists specially trained to inoculate people could give people the COVID-19 shots at vaccination centers.

“We would like to discuss (the plan) as quickly as possible to make a conclusion,” he said.

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