LDP Caucus: Health Minister Willing to Increase Organ Transplant Budget; More Staff, Better Working Conditions Proposed

The Yomiuri Shimbun

17:34 JST, August 2, 2024

Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Keizo Takemi is willing to allocate additional funding for organ transplants in the ministry’s fiscal 2025 budget, according to the Liberal Democratic Party’s caucus to study organ transplants. He noted that “the national budget is too small for this top-priority matter,” a member of the caucus has said.

The caucus submitted a proposal to Takemi Thursday calling for improvements to transplant treatment. The proposal comes in response to a situation in which hospitals decline to accept organs from brain-dead donors due to insufficient personnel and hospital beds.

The caucus, led by former health minister Norihisa Tamura, requested in the proposal an increase to the medical fees paid to transplant facilities and for immediate coordination between the facilities. The caucus also requested an increase to staff and prefectural coordinators at the Japan Organ Transplant Network (JOT), who engage in providing explanations to and confirming the wishes of families of possibly brain-dead patients, as well as for improvements to their working conditions.

The proposal asked the government to “respond adequately” to the matter in its plan for the fiscal 2025 budget.

According to House Representative member Hiromi Mitsubayashi, who serves as the caucus’ secretary general, Takemi received the proposal of the caucus on the day and expressed his willingness to increase the related budget, to which the ministry allocated ¥1 billion for fiscal 2024. Mitsubayashi said the caucus and Takemi also agreed that hospitals performing the treatment should be more highly remunerated.

“Organ donation facilities, the JOT and transplant facilities must all be strengthened,” Mitsubayashi said.