[Establishment of an economic foundation for neurologists in Japan]

Establishment of an economic foundation for clinical neurologists is essential for the advancement of neurology in Japan. However, this concept sometimes seems to slip easily from the minds of neurologists in academia. This has been true in the history of the Japanese Society of Neurology for half a century. Japan has a system of public health insurance for all people, but there are many problems related to medical pay that need to be discussed, especially for doctors seeing patients. Almost all Japanese doctors have been worried about the low medical pay in the Japanese health insurance system. We have made various approaches to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare to solve these economic problems, but our hard work for the improvement of our economic situation has often been unsuccessful. The Japanese Society of Neurotherapeutics took a step toward dealing with this problem with a symposium to discuss medical payments in 2002, and it has contributed to progress in the economic and financial systems for health insurance from the standpoint of clinical neurology. We Japanese neurologists need to make greater efforts to improve our poor economic situation, following the success of Japanese surgeons in their diligent work with the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare to improve critical conditions in the field of surgery.