Abstract
Niigata Prefecture is suffering from a chronic shortage of physicians. The 2000 statistics shows the number of physicians in active service is 162.5 for 100,000 population. This ranks the prefecture 40th among all the 47 administrative divisions of Japan (Average : 191.6 physicians). In the area including Ojiya, where our hospital is located, the number of physicians per 100,000 population works out at 124.5. A lack of physicians poses a serious problem. It is extremely difficult to maintain the quality of medical treatment and meet emergencies. As one of the countermeasures, the Niigata Prefectural Federation of Agricultural Cooperatives for Health and Welfare has made a network of seven hospitals in the Chuetsu area. The network is functioning well between our hospital and the surrounding four hospitals-Nagaoka Chuo General Hospital (Nagaoka), Nakajo Hospital and 2nd Nakajo Hospital (Tokamachi) and Kariwa-gun General Hospital (Kashiwazaki) because of favorable geographic conditions. Our hospital accepts psychiatric patients from 2nd Nakajo Hospital who need surgical treatment. Although our hospital does not have a psychiatric department, we accept those patients and have obtained good results.
