200 hospitals end emergency care in Japan: report
TOKYO (AFP) — More than 200 hospitals in Japan have ended emergency care in the past two years due to financial difficulties and a lack of doctors, a survey showed on Tuesday.
The Asahi Shimbun, which conducted a nationwide study of hospitals, said that doctors were increasingly unwilling to work overnight shifts and that operators were finding hospitals unprofitable, particularly in rural areas.
A total of 235 hospitals -- or 5.6 percent of those offering immediate care -- stopped accepting emergency patients in 2006 and 2007, with 20 hospitals closing completely, the newspaper said.
Japan has a system of universal health care provided through insurance by employers or through local governments, but many hospitals are privately operated.
Japanese media have reported a string of cases both in cities and in rural areas in which ambulances failed to find a hospital due to recent cutbacks.
A 77-year-old woman died in March last year in Osaka as ambulance staff spent more than 40 minutes looking for a hospital after 13 hospitals refused to accept her. She had apparently suffered a heart attack in the bathtub.
In 2006, Osaka reported 104 cases in which ambulance staff needed to ask more than 20 hospitals to accept one emergency patient.
The Fire and Disaster Management Agency has launched a nationwide study on the issue in a bid to improve the emergency medical care system.
The agency has also urged patients with minor injuries or illnesses to refrain from calling for ambulances in an effort to save them for serious patients in need of emergency help.
