Health care checks in Japan

Abstract

In Japan there are three kinds of health check-up. The first to be established is called ‘ dry dock ’ in which patients have to stay two days or more in hospital. ‘ Dry dock ’ is an English translation of ‘ ningen dock ’ in Japanese. A patient entering the First National Hospital in Tokyo for a check-up in 1953 compared his 7 days' stay with the periodical check-up of a ship in dry dock. This simile rapidly spread throughout Japan, and ningen dock is now a well-known word in Japanese. The nearly two thousand dry dock centres are wide spread throughout Japan. In contrast, the 50 AMHTS centres (Automated Multiphasic Health Testing and Services) are located mainly in big city areas and carry out the checks on outpatients. AMHTS systems include sophisticated techniques such as automated questionnaires, laboratory automation and computing facilities which are ideal for processing large volumes of examinees and for good quality control. Lastly, there are the individual health checks in outpatient departments. H...