A statement against holding the Olympics and Paralympics by medical, care and welfare workers

July 1st, 2021

Many medical professionals feel a sense of danger for holding the Olympics under a pandemic. Some medical organizations have already issued statements against holding them. Since the Olympics are a global event, we “Medical, Care and Welfare Workers Network for Lives and Livelihoods” issued a statement in English here, in order to appeal it to the foreigners coming to Japan for Olympics. There are many medical organizations and individuals, including medical, nursing and welfare workers that have already agreed with this statement, so we would like to make an assertion.

https://heiwa-inochi.sakuraweb.com/オリンピック中止を求める声明文/

  • We are very worried whether or not we can protect the health of the people involved in the Olympics.

Medical professionals have long been concerned about the risk of heat stroke at the Tokyo Olympics. In Tokyo, summer temperatures are rising year by year. Ambulances were dispatched 400 times in July and 4,359 times in August in 2020 due to heat stroke. In addition to that, we are experiencing a pandemic. Regarding the vaccination status in Japan, only 10.2% of people have been fully vaccinated (as of June 27). During the 4th wave of the pandemic, the medical system collapsed in Kansai and Hokkaido. Many people died from COVID-19 infections without receiving sufficient medical care at home (a total of 403 people died at home from March 2020 to May 14, 2021 — announced by the National Police Agency.) Now,we are concerned about the 5 th wave coming. Medical professionals are exhausted due to more than a year of hard work and stress. Some people have left their positions because of depression, and there are even fewer people left to support their sites. In long-term care and welfare facilities, infected residents cannot move to medical facilities, and a small number of long-term care workers who do not have medical knowledge have to provide care. We believe that only we are capable of clearly explaining the situation regarding medical care, welfare, and long-term care in Japan. We strongly wish to let the world know how dangerous it is to hold the Olympics.

  • We are very worried that during the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, there could be a worst-case-scenario in which we would have to perform triage, making life and death choices over COVID-19 patients.

As shown in ② above, by holding the Olympics in Japan, where medical availability will be severely limited, more and more people may end up receiving less than sufficient medical care, so there is a possibility that the number of citizens being at risk of their lives will increase by having these big events.  We hope that there will not be any situations in which we have to conduct triage at these events. 

The government, IOC, and JOC are strongly pushing to hold the Olympics despite opposition from many Japanese people and a decline in the number of volunteers for the event. We have less than a month before they are scheduled to start.

In order to cancel or postpone this event, there is no other way than to appeal to the common sense of the people who are involved in the Olympics all over the world. This is a final appeal from Japanese medical personnel with the hope that they will reconsider coming to Japan this summer.

Co-representatives

Source: Medical, Care and Welfare Workers Network for Lives and Livelihoods

Michiko Amaha, Honorary Head of Kanita Women’s Village 

Mami Ito: Director, Hananotani Clinic

Midori Kawashima, Professor Emeritus, Japanese Red Cross College of Nursing 

Misato Kojima, Representative, NPO Kurashinet-Enn 

Takashi Sawada, Director, Minatomachi Medical Center 

Naoko Takaoka, Family Physician, Ohta Hospital 

Hiroshi Honda, Deputy Director, Association for Enlightenment and Learning of 

Healthcare System in Japan

Supervisor

Yasuharu Tokuda: Director, Muribushi Okinawa Center for Teaching Hospitals