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The family of a 26-year-old Japanese doctor, who died by suicide last year after working more than 200 hours of overtime in a single month, has pleaded for change in a country long plagued by a culture of overwork.
Shingo Takashima was working as a resident doctor at a hospital in the city of Kobe when he committed suicide in May 2022, according to local public broadcaster NHK.
According to family lawyers, Takashima worked more than 207 hours of overtime in the month before his death and did not take a day off for three months, NHK reported.
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Konan Medical Center hospital denied these allegations at a news conference last week.
But in June, the government labor inspection body deemed his death a work-related incident due to his long working hours, according to NHK – highlighting the immense pressures placed on health workers.
Japan has long struggled with a persistent culture of overwork, with employees across industries reporting punishing work hours, high pressure from supervisors and compliance towards the company, according to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare. .
The stress and mental health damage that followed even caused a phenomenon called “karoshi”, or “death from overwork” – leading to the creation of legislation aimed at preventing deaths and injuries caused by excessive working hours.
At a press conference last Friday (18), Takashima’s family described what they said was a young man driven to despair and expressed their grief at his death.
Before his suicide, said his mother, Junko Takashima, the doctor pointed out that “it was very difficult” and that “nobody would help him”, according to a video published by local media at the press conference.
“No one is taking care of me, he kept telling me. I think the environment put him on edge,” she said.
“My son will not become a kind doctor, nor will he be able to save patients and contribute to society,” he added. “However, I sincerely hope that the work environment for doctors improves so that the same does not happen again in the future”, added the mother.
Takashima’s brother, who was not named, also spoke at the press conference, saying, “No matter how we look at my brother’s working hours, 200 (overtime) hours is an unbelievable number, and, first of all, I don’t I think the hospital is taking a solid approach to work management.”
At a press conference last week, Konan Medical Center backed down. “Often [os médicos] spend time studying alone and sleeping according to their physiological needs,” said a spokesperson.
“Due to the high degree of freedom, it is not possible to precisely determine working hours”, they highlighted.
wanted by CNN a hospital spokesperson said: “We do not recognize this case as overtime and will refrain from commenting on it in the future.”
Several instances of overwork have made national and global headlines over the years. In 2017, for example, Japanese authorities concluded that a 31-year-old political reporter, who died in 2013, had suffered from heart failure from spending long hours at work.
She had worked 159 hours of overtime in the month before her death, according to NHK.
The problem remains particularly acute in the health care sector. A 2016 study found that more than a quarter of full-time hospital physicians work up to 60 hours a week, while 5% work up to 90 hours and 2.3% work up to 100 hours.
Another report, published this year by the Association of Medical Colleges of Japan, concluded that more than 34% of doctors are eligible for a “special level of overtime that exceeds the maximum limit of 960 hours per year”.
Reforms of labor law and overtime regulation in 2018 saw some small progress, with the government reporting last year that the average amount of annual hours worked per person has “gradually decreased”.
However, while the number of actual working hours has declined, overtime has fluctuated over the years, he added.
Source: CNN Brasil
Bruce Belcher is a seasoned author with over 5 years of experience in world news. He writes for online news websites and provides in-depth analysis on the world stock market. Bruce is known for his insightful perspectives and commitment to keeping the public informed.
