The Finance Ministry proposed on Wednesday that cosmetic surgery clinics pay a levy to fund the training of doctors and nurses, arguing that the industry's pull on young physicians could leave regions short of medical staff.
The proposal was put to the Fiscal System Council, an advisory panel to the finance minister, at a meeting on the 4th. The ministry said the drift of doctors toward cosmetic work may be adding to the uneven distribution of physicians across the country.
In recent years, more doctors are said to be going straight into the cosmetic industry after finishing the two-year clinical training that follows a medical license. The path is popular because it promises high pay and no calls on holidays or at night.
The ministry floated a "medical workforce securing fund" to pay for the stable training and recruitment of doctors and nurses who serve local communities. It wants clinics that offer treatments outside the public insurance system, including cosmetic medicine, to supply the money.
It also noted that training a single doctor at a national university costs 30 million yen in public money over six years, and argued that clinics benefiting from that training should bear a share of the cost to keep local medical services running.
The pull of cosmetic work
The ministry's concern centers on 直美 (chokubi), the practice of going straight into cosmetic medicine after the two-year clinical training. Doctors on that path can earn tens of millions of yen a year, and one doctor in his 20s told the Asahi Shimbun that he chose it because he did not want to work long hours.
The ministry's proposal is one of several positions it has taken on medical spending. It has also argued for raising the share of medical costs paid at the counter by older patients to 30% in principle and for scrapping a special exemption for outpatient care.