Miscarriage jolts Japan to address doctor shortage

TOKYO, Aug 30 (Reuters) Japan promised today to try harder to resolve a doctor shortage after a pregnant woman miscarried in an ambulance during a frantic three-hour search for a hospital that would treat her.

Eight hospitals turned down the 38-year-old woman, who was six months pregnant, and the ambulance transporting her crashed into a minivan on its way to the ninth on Wednesday, a fire department official in Nara, western Japan said.

Her waters broke several minutes before the traffic accident and the baby was born dead.

''The nearest hospital was just three minutes away,'' the official said. ''Instead, the ambulance had to drive 70 km.'' Japan suffers from a shortage of doctors and emergency hospitals, especially in rural regions.

The number of obstetricians, in particular, has declined, with medical students put off by long hours and a rising number of malpractice suits.

''The shortage of doctors is a big social problem that Japan is confronting and I want to deal with it,'' Health Minister Yoichi Masuzoe said in a television programme late yesterday.

The top government spokesman also said he felt there were shortcomings in the country's medical system.

Faced with a extremely low birth rate and a rapidly ageing population, Japan has vowed to alleviate worries about healthcare, including scholarships for doctors willing to work in remote regions.

REUTERS SV SSC1059