Over 200 hours of overtime in just one month. A young 26-year-old doctor who committed suicide last year would have worked in Japan. And now the family wants clarification and attention to the Japanese healthcare system. The boy’s name was Takashima Shingo, he worked at a hospital in Kobe. He committed suicide in May 2022 and, according to family lawyers, had worked more than 207 hours of overtime in the month before his death and did not take a single day off for three months.
Last week, Konan Medical Center, the hospital where the young man worked, denied all accusations. But in June, according to NHK (Japan’s public broadcasting service), the labor inspectorate decided that the young doctor’s death was an occupational accident resulting from long hours of activity. At a press conference last week, Takashima’s family spoke of a young man who was despondent because of overwork.
The boy’s mother described how “too much pressure” was on her son and complained that “no one would help him”. “My son won’t be a good doctor, he won’t be able to save patients,” she said. “Two hundred hours (overtime) is an incredible number,” Takashima’s brother openly said.
The Trouble of Overworking in Japan: A National Issue
The hospital where the boy works is downsizing: “A spokesperson said, “Doctors often spend their time working on their own and sleeping according to their needs. “Due to their high degree of freedom, it is not possible to accurately determine working hours,” he said.
But the Japanese government has long worked to curb the culture of persistent overwork, as employees in different industries have punitive working hours, high pressure from supervisors, and a lack of respect for the company. The extreme stress and discomfort on mental health has spawned the phenomenon of “karoshi” or “death from overwork”, which the authorities intervened with special legislation.
The problem is particularly serious in the health sector. A 2016 study found that more than a quarter of full-time hospital doctors work up to 60 hours a week, 5% work up to 90 hours and 2% 100 hours. Another report released this year by the Japan Association of Medical Colleges found that more than 34 percent of doctors have “special-level overtime hours exceeding the maximum of 960 hours per year.”
Some minor progress has been made in labor law reforms. According to the government, the annual average working hours per employee “decreased gradually” over the past year. But at the same time, the problem of excessive overtime has not yet been resolved.
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Source: Today IT
Karen Clayton is a seasoned journalist and author at The Nation Update, with a focus on world news and current events. She has a background in international relations, which gives her a deep understanding of the political, economic and social factors that shape the global landscape. She writes about a wide range of topics, including conflicts, political upheavals, and economic trends, as well as humanitarian crisis and human rights issues.
