July 22, 2020

The Association of Japan Medical Colleges which consists of medical schools and university hospitals on July 20 published survey results showing that due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, 133 university hospitals nationwide in April and May suffered a loss of 31.3 billion yen in total.

The association pointed out that while providing advanced medical services as usual, university hospitals have played a large role in the fight against COVID-19. It sounded an alarm bell by saying, “If their financial situations continue to deteriorate, this could lead to the collapse of the medical system.”

The survey which was conducted in June indicated that 133 university hospitals suffered a loss of 19.1 billion yen in total in April and 12.2 billion yen in May. The decrease in income was ascribed to coronavirus-induced drops in the number of outpatients and inpatients as well as the number of operations performed. The number of outpatients recorded a year-on-year decrease of 21% in April and 27% in May.

As a measure taken in relation to the acceptance of COVID-19 patients, 55 hospitals paid a bonus to their doctors and nurses. On the other hand, from a managerial point of view, six hospitals reduced the amount of summer bonuses. In addition, 34 hospitals cited an increase in the number of overtime hours that staff worked. Five hospitals answered that they received more resignation letters than usual. Regarding recruiting, six said, “It has become more difficult to hire employees,” and five noted that they managed to secure the necessary number of staff but that there were fewer job applicants.

Past related articles:
> JCP Koike: 400 nurses will resign due to cancellation of their seasonal bonus despite their fight against COVID-19 [July 3, 2020]
> Many hospitals demand compensation for coronavirus-caused loss of earnings without delay [June 10, 2020]