徳島県における病診連携の展開

It is said that longer life expectancy and lower morbidity and mortarity in Japan have resulted from the adoption of "National Health-Care Insurance" in 1961. Japanese people have enjoyed for more than three decades their privilege to make access freely to any medical facilities of their choice. As a result, the outpatient clinic of University or larger hospitals are always congested with patients with relatively less severe diseases or minor injuries. This, in turn, forces patients with more severe illness or critical injuries to wait longer before they can receive appropriate medical care. It was proposed that with the better understanding of the roles of the familiy physician who is primarily responsible for the care of minor illness, indiscriminate visit to larger medical facilities by the patients otherwise treatable by primary care physicians.
The medical profession is committed itself to organize a better medical network service system in which each medical facility should offer proper medical service depending upon its professional capability. Referred patients from any family physicians should be promnptly and properly accepted by the hospital and with the completion of adequate treatment, the hospital is encouraged to return the patients to the primary-care physisiansas soon as possible.
The Tokushima Medical Association is seeking cooperation of the adoministrative authority and all the members of the medical profession as well as the patients for the full realization of the project.