OVER 30% OF BIG HOSPITALS CLOSE, DOWNSIZE DEPARTMENTS OVER 4 YEARS

TOKYO, June 7 (Kyodo) - Among about 170 prefectural hospitals nationwide, 61 of them, or more than 30 percent, have closed some consultation and diagnostic departments or downsized their services since a new internship system was introduced four years ago, a Kyodo News survey showed Friday. Most hospitals attributed the cuts to a lack of doctors stemming from pullouts of doctors who had been dispatched from medical departments of university hospitals or not being able to fill vacancies after doctors had retired. Of the 61 hospitals, 48 said they have closed departments, while 55 said they have downsized their services such as reducing consultation days, and such a trend is particularly noticeable among smaller hospitals in small to medium-sized cities, according to the survey that looked at the four years since March 1, 2004, just before the new internship was introduced. Of the departments which were closed or downsized, the department of obstetrics and gynecology accounted for 27, or about one-fourth, of such departments. The department of obstetrics and gynecology is considered as demanding work and facing high risk of lawsuits for malpractice. The pullouts of doctors by university hospitals are due to a lack of intern doctors as the introduction four years ago of a new internship system prompted many interns to select private hospitals in urban areas as their training sites. The survey excluded hospitals with only a psychiatry department and hospitals affiliated with prefectural medical universities. The downsizing of services include canceling deliveries at the department of obstetrics and gynecology, not accepting emergency patients during nighttime, the closure of a hospital ward and not accepting inpatients.