Mental Disorders among Medical Workers Surge in Japan

Tokyo, Oct. 9 (Jiji Press)--Japan has seen a surge in approved compensation claims by medical workers for work-related mental disorders, a government white paper showed Friday.

The annual report on measures to prevent death from overwork, endorsed at a cabinet meeting, highlights the impact of traumatic disaster experiences and harassment by patients as contributing factors, indicating a need for urgent countermeasures.

In the report, the government analyzed changes in the number of mental disorder cases among medical workers recognized to be related to work and thus eligible for compensation under public insurance every three years from fiscal 2012.

The data from fiscal 2021 to fiscal 2023 show an annual average of 59.3 cases, up 3.6-fold from the 16.3 cases for fiscal 2012 to fiscal 2014.

The most common factor over the entire survey period was "experiences or sightings of tragic accidents or disasters."

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]