Kichijoji, the “No. 1 Town to Live in,” has become a “difficult place to live” for the elderly… The reality of the “medical care collapse crisis” that is sweeping through Kichijoji, the “No. 1 Town to Live in.

People say that Kichijoji is the No. 1 easy town to live in, but it is now the No. 1 hard town to live in. In the past 10 years, many large hospitals have been disappearing. Matsui Surgical Hospital, Mizuguchi Hospital, and Morimoto Hospital closed this year, and now it seems that Kichijoji Minami Hospital will also close. …… It is unbelievable that four large hospitals that were so important to the local residents are going to disappear all at once.

There are many old people in this town, and if they suddenly fall ill, what should they do? Young people may not be so concerned about it, but elderly people like ourselves who have lived here for a long time are already filled with anxiety. If I could move, I would move to another town right away. If I could move, I would move to another town right away.

Kichijoji is a very popular town that consistently ranks first in the “Best Places to Live” rankings published by real estate companies. The city is popular among people of all ages, from young people to senior citizens, for its combination of urban convenience and the tranquility of nature. The city of Kichijoji, however, will no longer have a single emergency medical center.

The fact that Kichijoji will no longer have a hospital that provides emergency medical care has been a concern among medical professionals for about 10 years. In 2002, Matsui Surgical Hospital (91 beds) ceased emergency and inpatient functions, and in ’17, Mizuguchi Hospital (43 beds) was also closed. In March of this year, Morimoto Hospital (78 beds) closed and became a clinic for internal medicine. The city is on the verge of a “medical collapse” and has become a very difficult place to live for the elderly,” said a medical professional.

The current situation in Kichijoji is said to be on the verge of a “medical collapse” by both long-time local residents and those in the medical profession.

The sudden closure of Kichijoji Minami Hospital, which had been the “last stronghold” of secondary emergency medical care in the Musashino area, was of course a shocking incident for the residents, but it was also “out of the blue” for the hospital itself. The sudden closure of Kichijoji Minami Hospital was, of course, a shocking incident among the residents. Masamichi Fujii, 51, director of the Kichijoji Minami Hospital, said.

It was on June 20 that we suddenly received a notice from the corporate headquarters of Keihinkai (the hospital’s management body) that the hospital was to be closed. The hospital will be closed as of September 30 because the building is aging and the safety of staff and patients cannot be guaranteed. All employees, including the director, will be laid off in three months. This is a decision that has been made. As for the prospects for reopening the hospital, he said, “The hospital will be temporarily closed and will remain closed for three to four years until a new corporation can build a new hospital and transfer the beds to the new corporation. However, it seems that the new medical corporation to which the hospital will be transferred has not yet been decided. ……

Kichijoji Minami Hospital is a medium-sized hospital with 127 beds located 700m southeast of Kichijoji Station on Inokashira-dori Avenue. Just by looking at the exterior, one can tell that the hospital was built in the Showa period (1926-1989), but it also serves as the core of emergency medical services in Musashino City. In fact, of the approximately 7,000 emergency cases that Musashino City handles each year, the hospital handles approximately 2,300 of them.

Musashino City has a large tertiary emergency hospital, Musashino Red Cross Hospital, under which there are secondary emergency hospitals such as ours, but our hospital takes 2,300 cases and other secondary emergency hospitals take about 1,000 cases. Currently, we receive almost all of the second-level emergencies in the Kichijoji area, and if our hospital were to be shut down, there would be no more beds within a 5 km radius to receive second-level emergencies,” said Director Fujii.

Tertiary emergency hospitals are for patients with severe injuries or serious conditions that cannot be treated by secondary emergency hospitals.

Even if Kichijoji Minami Hospital is closed, there are two tertiary emergency hospitals, Kyorin University Hospital and Musashino Red Cross Hospital, located about 10 minutes away by car. If that is the case, wouldn’t it be better to have patients brought to the tertiary emergency hospitals in the future?　One might think that this would be a good idea, but this is not the case.

If we stop accepting patients, many of them will be sent to tertiary EMS. If we stop accepting patients, many of them will go to the tertiary ambulance service. Because so many patients are brought in, there are not enough people to handle the acceptances. A medical care collapse that fails to help more and more people who can be helped could occur in Musashino City.

There is one more important problem. That is how to deal with stroke patients and others. The brain can die within five minutes if it is deprived of oxygen supply, and patients need to be quickly intercepted and given first aid at a nearby secondary emergency hospital before being transported to a tertiary emergency hospital. There will always be patients who cannot be transported to Musashino Red Cross Hospital or Kyorin University Hospital in time,” said Director Fujii.

Kichijoji Minami Hospital is the only hospital in Kichijoji designated as a disaster base hospital that accepts injured patients in the event of a disaster, and if a disaster were to occur while the hospital is closed, the medical care in Kichijoji could be devastated.

Kichijoji Minami Hospital is 54 years old and originally had to be rebuilt. Keihinkai, the management body of Kichijoji Minami Hospital, acquired the land next to the hospital 12 years ago. The company had plans to build a new hospital there and transfer hospital functions to the new hospital without having to close the hospital. However, the new hospital was never built, and due to its decrepit condition, the hospital had to be closed. Musashino City Councilor Yuji Kawana, 64, an expert on local medical issues, said, “Kichijoji Minami Hospital was not built.

About 10 years ago, there were four second-tier emergency hospitals in Kichijoji, but after the closure of hospitals and the elimination of beds, Kichijoji Minami Hospital is the only one that remains. As the number of hospitals was decreasing, the city was backing “Keihinkai” and decided to ease regulations so that a large building could be constructed when the new hospital was built. Keihinkai has said that they will find a medical corporation that will take over the management of the hospital by the end of September, when the hospital will be closed, so at this point, we have high hopes for them.

According to a “Keihinkai” official, “The recent COVID-19 crisis has worsened the business situation, and we no longer have the capacity to build a new hospital. The hospital has been looking for a new underwriter but has not found one to date. But why would the hospital suddenly close when it is the sole provider of secondary emergency medical services in Kichijoji?

The building was partially constructed in 1970, and is now 54 years old. Until just before we decided to close the hospital in June, we had been negotiating with a medical corporation that was willing to take over Kichijoji Minami Hospital in a way that would allow us to continue its operations without having to close the hospital. However, for various reasons, the medical corporation was not ready to take over the hospital, and was unable to submit the necessary documents to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government’s Medical Council within the application deadline.

While this made it difficult to avoid the suspension of medical services, we decided to suspend medical services at the end of September this year due to concerns about the building facilities and seismic resistance if we were to do so.

It is said that approximately 70% of second-tier emergency hospitals are said to be in the red, but will they be able to find a new provider?　I hope that Kichijoji can somehow avoid becoming the “No. 1 dangerous city” instead of the “No. 1 desirable place to live. ……