This file photo shows Teikoku Databank Ltd. (Mainichi)

       OSAKA -- A medical corporation here has applied for bankruptcy procedures, citing the admission of COVID-19 patients as one factor leading to a catastrophic decline in its finances.

       Medical corporation Yuaikai in the city of Osaka filed for protection under the Civil Rehabilitation Act with the Osaka District Court on Aug. 26. According to the Osaka branch of survey firm Teikoku Databank Ltd., Yuaikai is the first medical corporation in Japan accepting coronavirus patients to go bankrupt.

       Yuaikai runs Matsumoto Hospital in Osaka's Fukushima Ward, which had accepted COVID-19 patients with mild or moderate symptoms. In addition to asset shortfalls resulting from prior investments to add a new ward, the hospital saw a decline in outpatients as infections were confirmed among hospitalized patients and staff in December 2020. The number of outpatients grew even smaller as some of its 199 beds were designated for coronavirus patients with mild to moderate symptoms, following a request by the Osaka Prefectural Government, and the corporation said its finances had become strained. Yuaikai has debts totaling around 5.2 billion yen (about $47.34 million).

       An Osaka Prefectural Government health and medical planning section representative commented, "We heard of the bankruptcy for the first time. We have not made it compulsory for hospitals to secure beds, and there were also support measures."

       (Japanese original by Hirokage Tabata, Osaka Science & Environment News Department)

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