With economic development and the progressive aging of the population, the demand for medical care has become more sophisticated and diversified every year. So that prefectural citizens can receive equal and adequate medical care anytime and anywhere, a plan aiming to establish structures for comprehensive medical care services, based on the characteristics of each region, has been formulated and is being strongly promoted. Furthermore, the securing of health professionals and the development of an emergency medical service system is being promoted to provide comprehensive health services to outlying islands and remote areas.
Administration in the field of pharmaceutical affairs is making efforts to secure the efficiency and safety of medical and pharmaceutical products and their constant supply, as well as blood products that are safe and in stable quantities for medical treatment. Also, measures to control habu, a virulently poisonous snake, have been taken to lessen the threat to local residents.
As for the international problem of drug abuse, the Prefectural Headquarters for Countermeasures Against Drug Abuse have been set up to educate the public.
Furthermore, a fund-raising campaign has been implemented to support the United Nation's 10 year drug eradication program (Absolutely Say No to Drugs Campaign).
2. Measures to Secure Necessary Personnel for Medical Care
To train and secure doctors, this prefecture haｓ taken the following
steps: 1) implementation of a clinical medicine training system 2) utilization
of a system for dispatching doctors using the Ministry of Welfare's budget 3) medical training using public funds.
It is noteworthy that scholarship programs were implemented from 1953 to 1986. The Japanese Government paying part of the cost of sending Okinawan students to mainland Japan for medical training in order to supplement the extreme shortage of doctors and dentists after the war. Also significant is the fact that after the war, a limited license medical and dental system, the Kaiho system, authorized physicians with unofficial experience to provide health and medical services for outlying islands and remote areas.
People engaged in the nursing service have been trained at nurse training institutes, and it is presumed that the demand for nurses will continue to accelerate in the future due to the following factors: the aging of society,
the growing sophistication of health and medical services, changes in disease patterns, the increase in the number of health and medical institutions, and the improvement of working conditions. To improve and maintain the quality
of nursing personnel, efforts are in progress to help prevent nurses from leaving the profession, to improve the number of nurses being employed and to develop training institutions like the prefectural nursing academy.
3. Measures for Emergency Medical Care
The emergency medical system in this prefecture has developed with public medical institutions at its center. Mild emergency patients are treated
in the first stage of emergency medical services. Patients needing emergency hospitalization and operation are treated through secondary emergency medical services, and critical emergency patients (i.e. patients suffering from cerebral apoplexy) are treated in the tertiary stage of emergency medical services. In the case of a severe emergency, patients in outlying islands are transported by plane, under escort of a doctor, to well-equipped hospitals
in the main island of Okinawa and larger other islands in order to secure proper medical care.
4. Medical Care for Outlying Islands and Remote Areas
This prefecture makes every possible effort to better health and medical care for people in remote areas. As an example, the "Okinawa Prefecture Health Care Plan for Outlying Islands and Remote Areas" has been set up, securing doctors for outlying islands and establishing a medical care system in districts with no doctors, as well as taking measures for cooperation
and reinforcement of the public health, medical care and welfare sectors. As a measure to secure physicians, their training and a clinical primary care training course are offered at college level, paid for by the Japanese Government. Also, mobile medical care has been implemented in districts lacking doctors and dentists. In addition, to support physicians working in outlying areas, a medical information project has been set up using personal
computers, facsimile machines and network systems, as well as other methods of information transfer. Some prefectural hospitals also help support clinics by acting as the nucleus of this project.
5. Measures to Secure Blood for Medical Treatment
In order to secure all the blood products necessary for medical treatment through blood donations by prefectural citizens, Okinawa is promoting
blood donation through the use of promotional staff in various locations together with the raising of blood donation awareness, and is attempting to expand the Blood Donor Registration System. As a result, all the necessary blood transfusion products are secured through local donations, and the ratio of people who donate 400ml of blood or engage in pheresis in this prefecture is high compared to national standards.
Also, the Okinawa Red Cross Blood Center supplies blood products to medical institutions on a 24-hour stand-by basis. At the same time, the four prefectural
hospitals, including the Miyako and Yaeyama hospitals, store blood products in emergency blood banks.
6. Habu (Poisonous Snake) Control
In this prefecture, the habu (a deadly poisonous snake) inhabits 85% of all land area. Every year, approximately 150 cases are reported, the victims bitten while working in the fields or in their estates. Although fatal cases decreased with the improvement and advancement of habu antivenom and treatment techniques, a few victims are still bothered by the after effects of habu bites. Bites from a deadly habu snakes can have an immeasurable
effect on the health, daily life and performance of residents in Okinawa prefecture.
For that reason, this prefecture conducts research and development into special antivenom, habu antitoxins and various habu extermination methods at the Habu Study Section of the Okinawa Prefecture Sanitation and Environment Research Institute.