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Toru Hyodo, Nobuhito Hirawa, Takahiro Kuragano, Yoshiaki Takemoto.
In late November 2019, an outbreak of infection caused by a new type of coronavirus (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, SARS-CoV-2) occurred in Wuhan, China, and quickly spread worldwide. In Japan, restrictions on entry from abroad were enforced until 29 April 2023, while restrictions on holding conferences and other public events in the country remained in place until 7 May 2023. The 67th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society for Dialysis Therapy (JSDT) was held in Yokohama, Japan, from 1 to 3 July 2022. At the meeting, people could gather in person and infection control measures were enforced. However, travel to Japan from abroad was restricted during this time. Therefore, the Committee of International Communication for Academic Research of the JSDT (JSDT International Committee) had to hold a web-based international symposium.
Since 2015, the JSDT International Committee has organized several symposia on the situation of dialysis in Asian countries. Dialysis technology has made great strides in developing Asian countries, and dialysis machines are increasingly being used in the same way as in developed countries. At the 2022 symposium, representatives from various countries shared their insights on the health economics of dialysis in their respective countries. In particular, they described the functioning of their healthcare systems, including the level of individual co-payments for dialysis services.
In this paper, we present the contents of presentations on “The present status of dialysis patients in Asian countries as of 2022 from a medical economic point of view” by speakers from Japan, Mongolia, and Indonesia at the 67th JSDT Congress International Committee Symposium held in 2022.
The present status of dialysis patients in Japan as of 2022 from a medical economic point of view
Shunichiro Urabe, Toru Hyodo.
History of health insurance coverage of dialysis in Japan
Dialysis treatment was not covered by national health insurance in Japan until October 1967. Prior to that, patients were required to pay the full amount out-of-pocket. The following is an explanation of the situation of dialysis care at that time [1]. The conversion of Japanese yen (JPY) to US dollars (USD) was based on purchasing power parity from 1973 onward. Prior to that, there was a fixed exchange rate of 360 JPY to...