Who decides what is uneven distribution?
Doctors are concentrated in urban areas, and there is a shortage in rural areas.
Are they analyzing this from a demographic perspective?
In every local government, there are political demands for hospitals to be present.
Is it wrong, lonely, or worrying that our town doesn’t have a hospital?
The local elderly people find it inconvenient that there isn’t a nearby hospital they are familiar with.
Politically, it is said to be the mayor’s responsibility if our town loses its hospital.
However, even the town’s officials go to a prefectural hospital in a neighboring city.
On the surface, there are people and media who argue that it’s the responsibility of political administration that there is no hospital nearby.
To limit the number of doctors and have them work efficiently nationwide, we would need to make all hospitals national and force them to work as government employees in specific locations.
We would have to place all medical institutions under the jurisdiction of the Self-Defense Forces, fire departments, or police stations nationwide.
Of course, this will never happen.
I don’t think simply raising doctors’ salaries will correct this issue.
Emergency hospitals will become larger and more centralized.
It’s like the desire to have universities close by, just like people wish for local nurseries.
The public is just being swayed by their own selfish desires.
As online consultations and home delivery of medicine progress, the number of medical institutions in rural areas will drastically decrease for internal medicine.
I don’t think more doctors will move from urban areas to rural areas.
Doctors are not unevenly distributed.
It won’t happen like people hope for nationwide maintenance like convenience stores or JAF for automobiles.
Then, we have no choice but to make hospitals auxiliary to fire departments.
But that will never happen.
Even the Self-Defense Forces don’t have conscription.
The only way to correct the uneven distribution is to make doctors subject to conscription.
The issue of uneven distribution is either the responsibility of the supply side (doctors) or a need for a change in awareness on the consumer side (patients).
I believe both are necessary.
In municipalities that say they lack doctors, are there really life-threatening issues occurring?
Satisfying the public’s demand to have things conveniently nearby, like nurseries, elementary schools, newspaper deliveries, and post offices, is impossible.
Modern medicine cannot function without many specialists and paramedical staff.
Modern medicine cannot exist with just a single private practitioner.
I believe the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare wants to make doctor placement an administrative responsibility.
In depopulated areas, we can only merge public health centers and hospitals to make them prefectural hospitals.
I am fully aware that this will never happen either.
The debate on the uneven distribution of doctors is fruitless under the current system of medical education and healthcare insurance.
What is healthcare?
Where does a doctor’s motivation lie?
What should a doctor’s compensation be?
Is it possible to manage the medical profession?
I don’t think this issue can be resolved without ending the free practice system.
If we increase the number of students in medical schools, I think this problem will naturally be solved.
But I’m sure it will never happen.
Why not allow foreign doctors to work here?
The number of foreign tourists and workers is increasing.
How about relaxing regulations so that foreign doctors and nurses can work in the country?
I always end up bringing up a different discussion.
Please think about this issue from a different perspective.
Blood sugar: 304. It’s from my late-night snack of natto, egg udon, yokan, and crackers.
Koyama G Representative, Thunderbird Representative, Vice President of Health Station, Koyama Yasunari