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Why has there been no end to a chain of scandals at a medical school with such a long history? The school must identify the problems as an organization and make drastic reforms tantamount to dissolving itself.
Kinuko Iwamoto, chancellor of Tokyo Women’s Medical University (TWMU), has been dismissed. In March this year, the Metropolitan Police Department simultaneously searched the chancellor’s office and other related locations on suspicion of aggravated breach of trust in connection with an allegation that a former employee of TWMU’s alumni association, a close associate of Iwamoto, had illegally received a salary.
TWMU’s business suffered as a result of a series of serious medical mishaps that occurred since 2001. Iwamoto, a member of the founding family, was entrusted with restructuring the school and assumed the post of vice chancellor in 2014 and became chancellor in 2019.
To what extent was Iwamoto involved in the opaque expenditures? Clarifying the precise picture in detail is essential.
After Iwamoto got involved in TWMU’s management, the school assigned point values to graduates’ donations to the alumni association, and gave preferential treatment to test-takers from families with high points in its recommendation-based admission system for alumni’s children and relatives.
The Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry issued a notice prohibiting private universities from accepting donations in connection with entrance examinations. TWMU’s practice may violate this.
Iwamoto took steps to cut labor costs for faculty and staff, resulting in the mass resignation of doctors and nurses. TWMU is now in a critical situation. There could have been problems with how the school pushed through cost-cutting measures without regard for the quality of medical care.
The third-party committee that investigated these problems concluded that the former employee had received salaries both from the university and the alumni association. It also said it was inappropriate how TWMU handled donations in connection with entrance exams and how it reduced labor costs.
In addition to these allegations, the committee said that Iwamoto is suspected of having illegally received funds from a consulting contract that TWMU signed with a company owned by one of her acquaintances. The committee concluded that behind the frequent problems in the school was the way Iwamoto dominated power.
Why couldn’t others including TWMU executives stop the concentration of authority in Iwamoto’s hands? The lack of organizational governance has reached a serious level.
TWMU, whose predecessor Tokyo Women’s Medical School was founded in the Meiji era (1868-1912), had a forward-thinking approach to actively nurturing female doctors and was once known as a prestigious school with prominent surgeons and other medical professionals.
In addition to training doctors, medical schools have a mission to contribute to society by providing advanced medical care at their hospitals. For this reason, they receive generous financial support from the government. Now that one of these medical schools has been involved in a string of scandals, it is unable to provide adequate medical care. This situation cannot be left unaddressed.
TWMU should set out an organizational revitalization plan soon. It is also important to strengthen the checking function for expenditures and expand the whistle-blower system.
