本日は、十日戎の祭礼です。関西では、商売繁盛の神様「えべっさん」として庶民の信仰対象となっております。大阪府貝塚市にある脇浜戎神社に本日お参りに行きましたが、大変な賑わいで、結構「密」な状況でした。私は家内安全、疫病退散と景気浮揚・経済発展を祈ってきました。
医療業界に目をやると、昨年、毎年の薬価改定が法制化されました。一部の新規薬剤を除き、日本の薬剤価格は国際的にみても適正価格のレンジにあると思っているが、更なる価格調整を求められる事になる。一方、診療報酬も先進国と比して決して高い水準には無い。相対的に低い医療価格を補う意味で、「短時間頻回診療」「検査の頻度と種類の増加」「定期健診の推進」等が行われ、医療機関の収入の帳尻を合わせてきている。この様な日本の医療体制が大量の雇用を生んでいるのも事実である。自身も慢性疾患を患っており、求められるままに毎月処方箋を貰いに近くのクリニックに行っているが、海外に住んでいた頃は3か月に一度で済んでいた事を思うと、面倒くさいが、「医療コストの帳尻合わせ」と納得しています。
昨年来、医療機関の経営が危機的状況にあると聞く。確かに新型コロナウイルス感染者を直接治療している医療施設は大変だと思うが、それ以外の医療機関の経営も危険な状況と聞いています。患者が医療機関訪問回数を減らしている事が主たる要因である。単純に診療報酬の単価を上げて、頻度を減らせば（海外並みにする）良いはずだか、仕組みを全て変えるのは至難の業であろう。優秀な厚生労働省のお役人様、どうぞこの機に、本当に必要な医療とは何か、本当に適正な頻度は何か？よく考えて将来につないで頂きたいと思います。
Today is the “Toka-Ebisu” Festival. In Kansai, “Ebisu” is the object of worship of the common people as the god of prosperous business. I went to visit Wakihamaebisu Shrine in Kaizuka City, Osaka Prefecture today. It was very busy and crowded and the situation was quite “dense”. I have been praying for my family’s safety, immediate ending of the current plague, and economic buoyancy and economic development.
Looking at the medical industry, annual drug price revisions by MHLW has been enacted. With the exception of some new drugs, I think that drug prices in Japan are overall in the reasonable price range even from an international perspective, but further price adjustments will be required. On the other hand, medical fees are not at a high level, compared to developed western countries. In order to compensate for the relatively low medical price, “short-time frequent medical care”, “increased frequency and types of examinations”, “promotion of regular medical examinations”, etc. have been carried out. With those practice, most of medical institutions can make their ends meet financially. It is also true that such a Japanese medical system is creating a large amount of employment. I myself have a chronic illness, and go to a nearby clinic every month to get a prescription as requested by my family doctor, but when I lived abroad, it was only once every three months. Higher frequency is actually troublesome, but I convince myself that it’s necessary to “the balance medical costs”.
I hear that managing medical institutions has been in crisis situation since the outbreak of Covid-19 last year. I can understand that medical facilities directly treating people infected with Covid-19 may face difficulty, but I hear that the management of other medical institutions is also at a risk. The main factor is that patients reduce the number of visits to medical institutions. It would be better to simply raise the unit price of medical fees and reduce the frequency (to the same level as overseas), or it would be extremely difficult to change all the medical structure in Japan. Dear excellent and talented MHLW officials, please take this opportunity to find out what medical care you really need and what is the proper frequency for Japan. I would like you to think carefully and connect to the future taking this opportunity.
