Emergency hospitals decreasing due to staff shortage

The number of emergency hospitals in 33 of Japan's 47 prefectures has decreased in the last three years, due mainly to staff shortages.

Nationwide, excluding Osaka Prefecture, the total number of such hospitals has fallen by 142 to 3,838, according to a survey released Saturday.

Prefectures that have seen a net decrease include Tokyo, Kanagawa, Chiba, Saitama, and Aichi. Their governments attributed the decline to shortages of doctors and nurses.

Osaka is not included in the analysis because it compiles data that are not comparable with those of other prefectural governments.

Emergency hospitals have a specific status conferred by governors to treat urgent cases, such as accident victims.

The figures indicate that provincial and urban hospitals alike face difficulties in securing medical staff.

Medical experts say even more hospitals will give up their status as designated emergency hospitals out of fear that they will be overloaded with urgent cases amid the decline in such hospitals.

If the situation is left unaddressed, emergency cases will be concentrated in the remaining designated hospitals, which may be unable to respond to the increasing need and in turn give up their own status, the experts said.

The survey was conducted in April and May by sending questionnaires to prefectural governments across Japan, with the exception of Osaka.

The number of governor-designated emergency hospitals increased in eight prefectures, including Kyoto, Hyogo and Okinawa.

Saitama saw the biggest fall, down 21 to 201. It was followed by Tokyo, down 16 to 324; Aichi, down 14 to 179; Kanagawa, down 11 to 171; and Hokkaido, down 10 to 263.

In terms of percentage, Iwate saw the sharpest fall at 14.8 percent, or nine hospitals, to 52, followed by Tokushima, down 14.6 percent, or six hospitals, to 35.

Meanwhile, Okinawa had the fewest emergency hospitals per 100,000 people, at 1.8, followed by Kanagawa at 1.9, Chiba and Shizuoka at 2.2 each, Shiga at 2.4, Tokyo at 2.6, Akita at 2.7, and Miyagi, Fukushima, Saitama and Fukuoka at 2.8 each.

Saga had the largest number at 5.6 hospitals per population of 100,000, followed by Fukui and Kagawa at 5.5 each, Wakayama at 5.4, Kochi and Miyazaki at 5.1 each, and Kagoshima at 5.0.