Japan Diet OKs Bill to Address Uneven Availability of Doctors

Tokyo, Dec. 5 (Jiji Press)--The Diet, Japan's parliament, enacted Friday a bill aimed at addressing the uneven availability of doctors in the country and promoting digital transformation in the medical sector.

The legislation to revise the medical care law was approved at the day's plenary meeting of the House of Councillors, the upper chamber of the parliament. Measures in the revised law will be implemented in stages from April 2026.

Under the amended law, prefectural governments can designate areas struggling to offer medical services sustainably as areas where doctors should be secured intensively. Allowances will be provided to doctors working in these areas using premium revenues from public medical insurance programs.

The opening of clinics without inpatient facilities will be restricted in areas with many doctors.

The revised law will authorize prefectural governments to ask medical institutions to provide services that are insufficient, such as emergency care, and make stronger requests to and disclose the names of noncompliant institutions.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]