Saku Central Hospital with a History of 60 Years Devoted to Rural Medicine / 日本農村医学会雑誌

ABSTRACT

Sixty years have elapsed since the Saku Central Hospital was established in 1944, or the year preceding the end of World War II.That year, the 20-bed hospital began to deliver medical care with only two physicians. It has now developed to a point where it has a staff of 1,682 employees, including 193 doctors, with 1,193 beds. In the immediate years that followed poverty-stricken rural communities were left far behind the times, and not blessed with benefits from the government's policy of economic rehabilitation and development which led to the emergence of modern industrial society. In attempts to save rural people and their environment and health from a wide variety of postwar social distortions attendant upon the production-first policy, the hospital staff dedicated itself to the delivery of comprehensive health care under the leadership of Dr. Toshikazu Wakatsuki, the then hospital director, with the cooperation of many like-minded health professionals and local residents.The fact historically stands forth that the Saku Central Hospital, keeping in close touch with the community and making sure of their needs, was always quick to come out with health care of the kind they really wished to have. The impelling force is organizational management in tune with the spirit of cooperatives' movement with the involvement of its workers' union in the hospital's management and a great variety of cultural activities in the rural communities.The health care-related industry is now a key industry in many regions. This fact is tied in with the creation of job opportunities for youngsters in those districts that are distressed by depopulation, turning out to be an indispensable factor for the building and management of a healthy community.Given the recent exposures of corporate irregularities and medical errors, we are determined to become a hospital trusted and chosen by locals by reviewing hospital care from a standpoint of obligations to society and incorporating quality-first principles, assurance of safety, transparency and accountability, and users' satisfaction in the management system.