Masahito Fushimi, M. D., Ph. D.

The status of physicians is declining in Japan as well. The fact that we often see news about medical lawsuits against physicians symbolizes this trend. In addition, today one of the major issues is the shortage and uneven distribution of physicians in Japan. It is said that the absolute number of physicians is already insufficient. What aggravates the problem further is the disparity between the regional distribution of physicians. It seems difficult to solve this problem.

Considering the first issue of shortage of physicians, training a large number of physicians in a short time will result in lower quality, however without increasing the number of physicians, the existing physicians will eventually suffer because their work environment will not improve. As for the second issue of uneven distribution of physicians, it seems that certain enforcement (i.e. mandatory appointment) is necessary in order to increase the number of physicians in the area with a demand for them because such areas tend to be under-populated with insufficient infrastructure. However, limiting physician’s freedom in choosing a work location could lead to a problem in itself. The Tohoku region, including Akita Prefecture where I reside, is considered one of the regions in Japan with a serious problem of physician shortage.

This is a commentary on the article, “The social status of physicians and the quality of health care” by Leo Sher, M.D. published on our website, www.internetandpsychiatry.com