Japan Medical Association
日本医師会
AbbreviationJMA
FormationNovember 10, 1916; 107 years ago (1916-11-10)
FounderKitasato Shibasaburo
TypeProfessional association
Purposerepresenting medical doctors
HeadquartersHonkomagome, Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan
Membership
167,000
Chairman
Toshio Nakagawa
Websitewww.med.or.jp
Formerly called
Greater Japan Medical Association

The Japan Medical Association (Japanese: 日本医師会, Hepburn: Nihon Ishi Kai) (also known as JMA or Nichii (日医)), is the largest professional association of licensed physicians in Japan. The JMA has been a member of the World Medical Association since 1951 and participates at all levels of the WMA. National headquarters are located in Honkomagome, Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan, supplemented by prefectural branch offices and member associations in local communities.

History

With the increasing introduction of western medicine, medical research and peer support among doctors developed during the Meiji period of the late 1800s. In 1879, medical practitioners who subscribed to the practice of kampo medicine (traditional Chinese medicine) began to organise themselves in response to Western medicine's growing presence in post-Meiji restoration Japan.[1] Those physicians formed the Imperial Medical Association (帝国医会, Teikoku ikai) in 1890 to advocate for the practice of Chinese (kampo) medicine, but the IMA was dissolved in 1898.[2]

As the medical profession continued to develop in line with Western scientific advances of the time, the public wanted to legally regulate medical organisations. In 1906, statutory procedures were implemented to organise professional association activities at the prefectural and local municipality levels, and to require physicians practicing medical services outside of the public hospitals system to join the member association branch in the locality where they practice medicine.[3]

Regional medical associations had emerged during the period after 1906, but no national organisation existed to regulate the 30,000 medical doctors practicing outside the national university and Imperial armed forces hospital systems.[3] An attempt to organise physicians on a national level was made under the name Japan Allied Medical Association (日本連合医師会, Nippon Rengō Ishikai) in 1914, but the association failed to enlist a sufficient number of prefectural-level medical associations.[3]

On November 10, 1916, the Greater Japan Medical Association (大日本医師会, Dainippon Ishikai) was established by the Minister for Interior Affairs, and then later renamed the Japan Medical Association in 1923. The JMA required by law that all Japanese physicians practicing in clinics and hospitals outside the national and Imperial armed forces hospital system to join.[2][3] During World War II, the JMA served as the sole national association responsible to maintain and improve clinical health for the Japanese public.[3] During the post-war period the Japan Medical Association underwent reforms with direct intervention from the GHQ of the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers. The most notable reform involved persons who had contributed to the war effort and who would no longer be permitted to accept executive appointments in the ongoing business of the association. Following this directive, Toshihiko Nakayama, the chairman of the association at the time, announced that he and others with similar positions would no longer hold offices in the association.[4]

Without the demands of World War II on the medical fraternity, the association was able to refocus efforts on school, occupation, and community health in addition to standard clinical healthcare. On November 1, 1947, toward the end of the Allied occupation of Japan, the association recommenced operation under the name "Japan Medical Association" as a non-governmental organization, which previously had been under direct Imperial government control.[1] The newly founded JMA had a constitution which was patterned after the American Medical Association, with voluntary membership, executive offices elected by popular vote, and association business to be conducted through democratic procedures.[1] These activities led to the JMA being admitted to the World Medical Association in 1951.[5] The JMA, in advocating for its members, has come into conflict with the Ministry of Welfare over amounts for medical fees.[6]

The main activities of the JMA are to improve university medical education programs, promote and support medical research, provide professional development through continuing education to members, and collaborate with national and international governments on special clinical public healthcare projects such as disaster relief medicine.[7][8][9][10]

Membership advocacy and political lobbying

See also: Japanese Association of Medical Sciences

The JMA has been involved in political lobbying since its inception. The main areas of advocacy include protecting physicians' interests in clinical practice, public health related policy, clinical fee adjustments set by the national health insurance body, and legal procedures related to malpractice.[11]

For a period of almost ten years, from 1947 to 1956, the association defended physicians' rights to prescribe, formulate, and sell medicine, which the government proposed to prevent through a parliamentary bill. The JMA argued that income for physicians under the health insurance system alone was not economically sustainable, and therefore was the need for physicians to compound and sell their own formulated medications.[1][12] The JMA was successful in protecting this practice.[1]

The JMA continues to lobby the government to adjust clinical fees derived from the national health insurance system, to be adjusted in line with the cost of living. Lobbying for financial accommodations related to administrating the universal health care system is also a regular area for advocacy.[1][4][11]

Clinical malpractice has become a focus of the association, particularly how best to protect medical physicians in legal proceedings.[13] As Kodate notes, while there has not yet been "the emergence of a new accountability regime, increased pressure is now placed on healthcare providers in terms of monitoring performances, collecting information and making decisions on how to act when serious incidents occur."[14]

National professional and public health programs

The Japan Medical Association maintains a number of public national public health systems, including the following:

Membership

As of 2015, there were approximately 167,000 members of the JMA organised under one of the forty-seven prefectural medical associations.[26] Self-employed physicians make up the largest number of members, followed by hospital or small clinic-based physicians, and hospital residents.[27]

Notable members

Shinya Yamanaka was co-awarded (with John B. Gurdon) the 2012 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for their work in proving that mature cells could be converted into stem cells.[28] The result of the work of Yamanaka and Gurdon is considered to be a scientific milestone in human regenerative medicine.[29]

Two past presidents of the JMA, Taro Takemi and Eitaka Tsuboi, have served as president of the World Medical Association. Tsuboi pioneered cancer research and treatment in Japan and Asia, self-funded school and community health programs in Nepal, and had a role in establishing the Thai National Cancer Centre in Bangkok.[30] In 2000, King Birendra of Nepal, decorated Tsuboi for his long term contributions to Nepal.[30][31]

JMA members have also served the WMA in many other executive roles including Chair of the WMA Council and vice-president.[5]

  • upper-body shot of young man smiling, wearing glasses with dark suit and tie
    Dr. Shinya Yamanaka, Nobel laureate
  • upper-body shot of older man with white hair, dark suit and tie
    Dr. Eitaka Tsuboi, past World Medical Association president
  • full-body statue of man in double-breasted suit on tall granite base
    Statue of Dr. Taro Takemi at Imakumano Kannon Temple

Public broadcast and programming

The JMA produces a variety of medical related programming for the public and allied medical persons including but not limited to:

Publications

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Leichter, Howard (1979). A Comparative Approach to Policy Analysis: Health Care Policy in Four Nations. London: Cambridge University Press. pp. 257–258. ISBN 978-0521226486.
  2. ^ a b Yamagishi, Takakazu (2011). War and Health Insurance Policy in Japan and the United States World War II to Postwar Reconstruction. Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 22. ISBN 9781421400686.
  3. ^ a b c d e "日本医師会通史" [Historical Overview of the Japan Medical Association] (PDF) (in Japanese). Archived from the original (PDF) on August 18, 2017. Retrieved April 26, 2017.
  4. ^ a b Arioka, Jiro. "戦後五十年のあゆみ" (PDF). 日本医師会創立記念誌. Japan: Japan Medical Association. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-05-14. Retrieved May 2, 2017.
  5. ^ a b Ishii, Masami (April 2010). "Recent and future activities of the Japan Medical Association as a member of the World Medical Association" (PDF). Japan Medical Association Journal. 52 (2): 74–80. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 28, 2021. Retrieved April 26, 2017.
  6. ^ Fukui, Haruhiro (1970). Party in power, the Japanese liberal democrats and party power (PDF). Australia: Australian National University Press. pp. 55–56.
  7. ^ a b Yokokura, Yoshitake (December 2015). "Japan Medical Association Special Feature" (PDF). Japan Medical Association Journal. 58 (4): 236–239. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 21, 2018. Retrieved April 26, 2017.
  8. ^ "International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (ICTRP) – Japan Primary Registries Network". World Health Organization. Archived from the original on July 1, 2017. Retrieved April 26, 2017.
  9. ^ Japan Medical Association (July 2016). "The Japan Medical Association has signed the iJMAT agreements in Taiwan, promoting international cooperation in medical aid activities in times of disaster" (PDF). Japan Medical Association Journal. 59 (1). Japan Medical Association: 10–11. PMC 5059161. PMID 27738578. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 21, 2018. Retrieved April 26, 2017.
  10. ^ Kondo, James (January 2005). "The iron triangle of Japan's health care, The Japan Medical Association is losing its grip on healthcare policy". The British Medical Journal. 330 (7482): 55–56. doi:10.1136/bmj.330.7482.55. PMC 543855. PMID 15637352.
  11. ^ a b Yokokura, Yoshitake (September 2016). "Policy Address" (PDF). Japan Medical Association Journal. 59 (2): 55–58. Retrieved May 2, 2017.
  12. ^ Takemi, Taro (April 1960). "Words to Asian Medical Journal" (PDF). Asian Medical Journal. 3 (4): 4. Archived (PDF) from the original on April 27, 2017. Retrieved May 2, 2017.
  13. ^ Higuchi, Norio (April 2012). "Should medical errors be judged by the criminal court?" (PDF). Japan Medical Association Journal. 55 (2): 128–138. Retrieved May 2, 2017.
  14. ^ Kodate, Naonori (September 2018). "Regulating risks in healthcare in Japan: Between new politics and the tradition of liberal practice in medicine". Contemporary Japan. 30 (2): 204–226. doi:10.1080/18692729.2018.1501794. hdl:10197/12129. S2CID 158536394.
  15. ^ "What is JMACCT". Centre for Clinical Trials Japan Medical Association. Archived from the original on March 31, 2017. Retrieved April 24, 2017.
  16. ^ Ito, Tatsuya (February 2016). "Differences in Investigator-Initiated Trials between Japan and Other Countries: Analyses of Clinical Trials Sponsored by Academia and Government in the ClinicalTrials.gov Registry and in the Three Japanese Registries". PLOS ONE. 11 (2:e0148455): e0148455. Bibcode:2016PLoSO..1148455I. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0148455. PMC 4744062. PMID 26848574.
  17. ^ "日本医師会災害医療チーム（ＪＭＡＴ）の活動について" [Japan Medical Association Disaster Medical Team (JMAT) Action Plan] (PDF) (in Japanese). Japan Medical Association. April 6, 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 4, 2016. Retrieved April 25, 2017.
  18. ^ "日本医師会災害医療チーム" [Japan Medical Association Disaster Medical Team] (PDF) (in Japanese). Japan Medical Association. 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 16, 2015. Retrieved April 25, 2017.
  19. ^ Ishii, Masami (February 2013). "Overview of Japan Medical Association Team for disaster relief" (PDF). Japan Medical Association Journal. 56 (1): 74–80. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 29, 2017. Retrieved April 26, 2017.
  20. ^ "Japan Medical Association Certificate Authority". Japan Medical Association (in Japanese). Archived from the original on April 29, 2017. Retrieved April 24, 2017.
  21. ^ "Japan Medical Association ORCA Project" (in Japanese). Japan Medical Association. Archived from the original on May 11, 2017. Retrieved April 26, 2017.
  22. ^ "JAL DOCTOR登録制度" [JAL Doctor Registration System] (in Japanese). Japan Airlines. Archived from the original on March 30, 2017. Retrieved April 24, 2017.
  23. ^ Mikami, Hiroshi (July 2011). "The Continuing Medical Education Program of the Japan Medical Association: Its history and future prospects" (PDF). Japan Medical Association Journal. 54 (4): 205–209. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 23, 2021. Retrieved April 26, 2017.
  24. ^ "制度の説明" [System Explanation] (in Japanese). Japan Medical Association. Archived from the original on April 29, 2017. Retrieved April 27, 2017.
  25. ^ "日本医師会女性医師支援センター 事業概要" [Japan Medical Association Women Doctors Assistance Centre – Service Summary]. 日本医師会女性医師支援センター (in Japanese). Archived from the original on April 15, 2017. Retrieved April 25, 2017.
  26. ^ "日本医師会の概要" [Japan Medical Association Overview]. Japan Medical Association (in Japanese). December 1, 2015. Archived from the original on April 12, 2017. Retrieved April 26, 2017.
  27. ^ "Japan Medical Association Overview". Japan Medical Association. Archived from the original on June 12, 2017. Retrieved April 24, 2017.
  28. ^ "The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2012". Nobel Media AB. October 8, 2012. Archived from the original on May 1, 2017. Retrieved April 23, 2017.
  29. ^ Nakauchi, Hiromitsu (November 2013). "Progress in stem cell research and new medical care" (PDF). Japan Medical Association Journal. 56 (6): 417–433. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 28, 2021. Retrieved April 26, 2017.
  30. ^ a b "Obituary Dr. Eitaka Tsuboi". World Medical Journal. 61 (1): 42. 2016-03-01. Retrieved May 6, 2017.
  31. ^ Jimba, Masamine (2005-01-21). "Another lesson from the Japan Medical Association". The British Medical Journal. 330 (55): 310–1. doi:10.1136/bmj.330.7486.310-c. PMC 548220. PMID 15695286.
  32. ^ "医療従事者向け専門番組" (PDF). www.radionikkei.jp. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved May 1, 2017.
  33. ^ JMAJ Editorial Office (July 2001). "Notice" (PDF). Japan Medical Association Journal. 44 (7): 290. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 29, 2017. Retrieved April 26, 2017.
  34. ^ "Japan Medical Association journal : JMAJ". National Center for Biotechnology Information, U.S. National Library of Medicine. Archived from the original on May 9, 2017. Retrieved April 25, 2017.

Further reading

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