While the growing number of foreign tourists and residents in Japan has seen demand for medical services spike among non-Japanese-speaking patients in recent years, the health ministrys first nationwide survey of the medical support system says it is failing to keep up with the surging need.
The survey, released Tuesday, showed 79.7 percent, or 1,363 hospitals, accepted non-Japanese patients in fiscal 2015. A total of 112 facilities said no foreign patients had visited their facilities, while 231 hospitals did not know if they accepted any.
Of the 1,363 facilities, a total of 900 hospitals, or 65 percent, said the foreign patients they treated had difficulty communicating in Japanese. Whats more, just 218 facilities said they had used medical interpreters, with many hospitals asking patients to find interpreters themselves.
Despite the growing need, a mere 51 hospitals just 3 percent had in-house medical coordinators to guide non-Japanese patients through the various processes, the survey found.
Asked whether they were concerned about treating non-Japanese patients, with multiple answers allowed, 84.5 percent of the medical facilities surveyed noted language and communication issues, which they said could lead to inappropriate diagnoses or mistreatment. Of the hospitals surveyed, 63.9 percent also cited an inability to collect medical bills and the potential for lawsuits.
