Japan Press Weekly

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2008 January 30 - February 5 [POLITICS]

JCP urges government to take steps to solve shortage of doctors and financially improve hospitals

Japanese Communist Party representative Yamashita Yoshiki used his question time at the February 4 House of Councilors Budget Committee meeting to call for the government to end its policy of restraining medical cost increases in order to prevent the nation’s emergency medical care from collapsing.

Yamashita cited a case of a 49-year-old man who was injured in a car accident in January in Higashiosaka City. The man died after five critical care centers refused to accept him.

Pointing out that these five critical care centers at that time had no room to accept new patients, he said that the tragedy was caused by the fact that more and more hospitals are shutting down “secondary emergency medical services” that treat patients who need emergency surgery or immediate hospitalization.

Japan’s emergency medical care system consists of three levels: (1) primary emergency care for patients with mild symptoms; (2) secondary emergency care for patients who need to be hospitalized or to undergo operation; and (3) tertiary emergency care (provided by critical care centers) for those in critical condition.

Secondary emergency care is now provided by 3,996 hospitals throughout the country. The number has decreased by 174 in two years. As a result, critical care centers have to treat more patients than before. This is why the tertiary emergency care center in a hospital as the “last resort” is almost always full.

Emphasizing that “an overhaul is needed to not repeat the failure to save lives,” Yamashita urged the government to solve the present dearth of doctors and hospitals’ financial difficulties.

The government has tried to not to increase the number of trainee doctors. A Mainichi Shimbun survey published on February 4 showed that 77 percent of hospitals that responded to questions pointed to doctor shortages as the main reason for the reduction of their emergency care services. Many hospitals can place only one doctor on night or holiday shift.

The 2006 reduction of remuneration for medical treatment has made it harder for hospitals to continue to provide emergency care.

An emergency care worker in Osaka said that while hospitals had covered deficits in emergency care with remuneration for beds, they can no longer count on such revenue after the reduction of remuneration..

The government needs to swiftly improve doctors’ working conditions and increase remuneration for medical services and establish financially stable hospital management.