Doctors and nurses will be temps

The government will lift the ban on temporary staffing of doctors and nurses to welfare facilities effective April 1st.

The Health, Labor, and Welfare Ministry intends to downsize the number of full-time medical staff even though the number of people requiring quality nursing care is increasing at those facilities.

Once the ban on temp staffing is lifted in welfare facilities, it is only a matter of time that the same deregulations will also be applied to other medical-related facilities such as hospitals, clinics, and maternity centers.

Who will take responsibility for medical accidents if temporary doctors or nurses are involved? At present, there is no such system in the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare that would supervise temporary staffing agencies.

Koike Akira, Japanese Communist Party member of the House of Councilors, told Akahata that the Koizumi Cabinet, seeking an entry of joint stock companies into the medical sector, wants to help cut labor costs by using temporary doctors and nurses.

Looking for business opportunities in the medical and welfare sectors, private business representatives are on a governmental council for regulatory reform, he said.

Koike, who is also a doctor, said, "Under the name of regulatory reform, these corporations are now waiting for a business chance and they'll put the logic of profit-making over people's lives and safety. I want to inform more patients and the public of this danger." (end)