January 24, 2023

The Japan Federation of Democratic Medical Institutions (Min-iren) on January 23 demanded that the Ministry of Health and Welfare improve the conditions of workplace nurseries where healthcare workers' children are cared for while they are working.

Japanese Communist Party Vice Chair Kurabayashi Akiko (House of Councilors) accompanied the Min-iren petition.

Min-iren representatives underscored the importance of ensuring high-quality childcare in hospitals under the protracted COVID-19 situation so that doctors, nurses, other medical professionals, and hospital staff as well as childcare workers can work without undue worries.

Hibino Mitsuyo, an on-site hospital nursery teacher, said, "There is almost no licensed daycare center open at night and on holidays near hospitals. A role of in-hospital childcare is to support parents who work at hospitals to protect people's health and lives in communities."

According to Hibino, many childcare facilities in hospitals fall short of meeting the government standards. She said that in-hospital nurseries should meet the same standards as licensed childcare facilities in regard to the size, the number of staff, and the eligibility to receive government subsidies. She added, "Nursery teachers want children's healthy growth. We hope that they can receive care of the same quality regardless of the location of childcare facilities."

Min-iren also demanded that the government take necessary measures to authorize more hospital-based childcare centers, increase the amount of subsidies given to childcare centers, and dramatically increase the government-set rate of childcare workers' wages.