News On Japan

Sixty Percent of Hospitals in Japan Operating in the Red

OSAKA, Oct 02 (News On Japan) - Around 60 percent of hospitals across Japan are operating in the red, creating a critical situation where closures and bankruptcies are no longer a distant threat. Behind the figures lies a deepening financial crisis that is raising questions about whether patients can continue to rely on stable access to medical care.

Five medical associations in Osaka Prefecture held a press conference on October 2nd to sound the alarm.

Osaka Medical Association President Yasushi Kano said: "Having hospitals and clinics you can always rely on nearby—can we still take that for granted? A quiet but serious shift is taking place in Osaka’s medical system. Both clinics and hospitals are facing a crisis in their operations."

An emergency survey by the Japan Hospital Association found that about six out of ten of the more than 1,800 hospitals that responded nationwide were running deficits.

A visit to Tsukuba University Hospital in Ibaraki Prefecture revealed the realities of this financial strain. In the outpatient waiting area, chairs were left in tatters, and walls near doors were patched with tape instead of repairs. Although the building, nearly 50 years old, is due for replacement, the budget is unavailable.

Tsukuba University Hospital Director Yuji Hiramatsu explained: "The deficit is about 2.8 billion yen, the largest since the hospital’s founding. The biggest factor is rising personnel costs, up roughly 1.8 billion yen compared to two years ago. In the past, we managed to cover expensive advanced medical care with revenue from other areas, but now expenses across the board are rising, upsetting the overall balance."

The strain extends to emergency care. At a hospital in Sakai City, Osaka Prefecture, doctors stressed the importance of sustaining services despite mounting losses.

Physician Michihiko Kosaka said: "Emergency care is absolutely essential. Recently, more people are stepping away from it, but it is necessary, so as a team we try to transform the effort into the joy of saving patients."

However, with budgets under pressure, even updating medical equipment has become difficult. "Normally machines are replaced every ten years, but in some cases we continue using old ones. Still, we must replace them when possible because precision is directly tied to the quality of care," Kosaka said.

Rising costs are also hitting other areas. The disposal of special medical waste generated when treating infectious patients rose by 6 million yen over the previous year due to higher labor costs at contractors.

To stay afloat, some medical corporations have been offsetting hospital deficits with profits from nursing care businesses within the group, but this is only a temporary solution.

Kyoko Tanaka, administrative director at the Sakai hospital, emphasized: "Even though management is tough, we still maintain staffing to ensure emergency and non-refusal care. For hospitals providing emergency services, finances are extremely severe. As long as we continue such essential care, deficits are inevitable. We strongly hope that medical service fees will be revised so that appropriate compensation is provided for proper medical treatment."

When asked about potential ways forward, Hiramatsu of Tsukuba University Hospital gave a grim assessment: "There really are no options left. We have done everything we can. Some might think if a university hospital goes bankrupt, another hospital can simply take over, but these institutions are crucial social infrastructure for training doctors. Everyone is desperately enduring to continue providing advanced medical care."

Source: YOMIURI

News On Japan
POPULAR NEWS

A massive tornado-like phenomenon was observed late in the morning of October 2nd off the coast of Tsuruoka in Yamagata Prefecture’s Shonai region, with thick swirling clouds rising high into the sky as seawater was drawn upward.

Maebashi Mayor Akira Ogawa held a closed-door meeting with all city council members on October 2nd to explain her repeated hotel meetings with a married senior city official, but afterward she avoided stating whether she would resign.

A two-story wooden house collapsed in Tokyo’s Suginami Ward on the night of September 30th, with experts suggesting that the ground beneath the property, rather than the building itself, gave way, likely due to a cracked retaining wall.

Heavy rainfall battered parts of Hokkaido, with some areas receiving more than a month’s worth of precipitation in only six hours, prompting flood warnings and evacuation advisories. Meteorologists are saying the downpour was the result of a combination of unstable atmospheric conditions and moist air flowing in from the sea.

Kamakura City in Kanagawa Prefecture has approved the introduction of a bathing tax, but the measure is drawing strong criticism from local hot spring operators since only two facilities fall under the new levy.

MEDIA CHANNELS
         

MORE Business NEWS

Around 60 percent of hospitals across Japan are operating in the red, creating a critical situation where closures and bankruptcies are no longer a distant threat. Behind the figures lies a deepening financial crisis that is raising questions about whether patients can continue to rely on stable access to medical care.

A system failure caused by a cyberattack at beverage giant Asahi Group shows no sign of resolution, disrupting deliveries and leaving some supermarket shelves empty.

Forever 21, the American fast fashion brand that once led a global boom in affordable clothing, has decided to withdraw from Japan for the third time after its US parent company filed for bankruptcy and supply from the United States came to a halt.

The wave of price increases continued into October, with more than 3,000 items, including beverages and food, set to rise in price, leaving supermarkets and retailers grappling with how to respond.

From October, Japan’s minimum wage will rise across the country to exceed 1,000 yen for the first time, a development welcomed by workers but one that is expected to squeeze retailers such as discount supermarkets where higher personnel costs could lead to losses.

NTT, which had previously announced plans to gradually phase out fixed-line metal cables over the next decade, said at a briefing on September 30th that it will raise basic charges from next fiscal year to temporarily maintain the service.

Office rents in Osaka are rising at the fastest pace in the world, driven by a wave of new developments in Umeda such as the recently opened Grand Green Osaka, which has brought fresh momentum to the city’s commercial real estate market.

Asahi Group Holdings said on September 29th that a cyberattack had caused a major system failure which has yet to be restored and shows no signs of resolution, with the impact now spreading across its operations even as the company stressed that no leaks of personal information or customer data have been confirmed.