Multilingual Telephone Medical Interpreting Available for Quake-Hit Areas

Jan 13 (NHK) - Japan's health ministry has launched a multilingual telephone interpreting service to help medical workers dealing with foreigners in areas of central Japan struck by a massive earthquake.

The service is for workers at medical facilities and healthcare professionals at evacuation sites in the quake-hit prefectures of Ishikawa, Toyama, Niigata and Fukui.

It is available through March 31.

The service is provided in 23 languages including English, Chinese, Korean, Portuguese, Vietnamese, Tagalog, Indonesian and Burmese.

The ministry is calling on medical workers to use the service for smooth communication with patients who do not speak or understand Japanese.

To do so, call 03-5366-6076 and tell the operator you need medical interpretation.

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