Lavo Standard (11) (8-11-09)

Strewn across the vicinity of each rail-station in a city of Japan [too ambiguous; clarify], drugstores remain competent despite the economic slowdown that has been a bane to most other businesses. While drugstores discount their products to attract people, there usually are no distinct prices which are set almost the same by other competitors. In search of cheap products, more and more shoppers go to these stores, so that they can maintain their businesses.

In fact, according to data from JACDS--Japan Association of Chain Drug Stores--which was released on March 30, 2009, the number of drugstores rose to 15,625 in 2008 from 15,014 in 2006; their total proceeds first topped ￥5 trillion (or about $55.6 billion) in 2008.

As drug stores are open until late at night, busy people as businessmen find it easier to enter drugstores and buy medicine, supplements and/or energy drinks than sneaking out of the workplace to see a doctor. And they eschew a series of medical tests.

For example, a small jar of tablets for a cold costs only about ￥1,500 (or about $17).

The slow economy is actually likely contributing to the success of drugstores.

Since the economy began faltering, companies have taken action to offset their losses in sales: workforce retrenchment and/or salary reduction. Either of these countermeasures must urge more people to resort to drugstores.

Furthermore, purchasing medicine away from medical facilities became even easier after the law regarding selling medicine was revised. On June 1, the law approved of a toroku hanbaisha, or a registered salesperson, selling medicine in absence of a pharmacist, even at a convenience store or an electronics store. A high school grad who has sold medicine under the instruction of pharmacists for more than a year and passed an examination for the license can become a toroku hanbaisha.

An array of medicine has been classified into three grades based on risks, and a toroku hanbaisha can sell class-2 and class-3 products which have lower risks, while class-1 products have to be sold by a pharmacist. (The revised law also stipulates that online retailers can deal with only class-3 products.) With the presence of a toroku hanbaisha, drugstores are expected to be able to extend their business hours.

For the Japanese government struggling to prepare medical expenditures, a desired phenomenon must be fewer outpatients. The introduction of toroku hanbaishas makes sense, acceding to this desire and providing jobs at drugstores.

In Japan the budget for medical treatment has been increasing in step with its aging population. That was 25.79, 32.11 and 33.13 trillion yen in 1994, 2004 and 2006 respectively. The rate of the population increase has experienced a minus in 2005 first after 1947, and the total fell more than 5,100 in 2008.

At the moment, Japan also faces a shortage of doctors, lacking 140,000 doctors compared with the average of the OECD--Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development--nations. Calculation was based on doctors per 100,000 people in 2004. In the expected situation, fewer outpatients would mean a reduced workload per doctor, though, complexity involves drops in revenue at medical facilities. [need more of a transition]

Meanwhile, people should not rely on over-the-counter medicine too much. It may work against a disease as simple and weak as a cold. However, the sort of medicine could also overshadow telltale signs of a serious disease until the growth of it finally urges the subject to visit a medical facility. In this scenario, medical treatment necessitates larger fees to burden the government more if the patient is covered by its health insurance scheme.

Cancer perhaps serves as a typical example for this category of diseases. Yet people, almost all of whom are taxpayers, can take medical checkups for detecting cancer and other types of anomalies at a relatively low price.

First, to set a benchmark, a typical private hospital in Tokyo requires a person about ￥40,000 for measuring his/her height, weight, waist and eye-sight, and examinations on his/her blood circulation, fat levels in the blood, respiration system (with a chest X-ray included), digestion system by endoscope, internal organs by ultrasound, and blood and urine. Further, examinees can add other varieties of exams as CT scans and tumor-markers by paying extra.

However, registered Tokyo residents can take some medical checkups at more reasonable prices.

For instance, a resident of Chiyoda ward, people aged 40 or over can go through a chest X-ray, a stomach exam (by barium/endoscope) and/or fecal occult blood test (inspecting stool for blood) for ￥300, ￥800 and ￥200 respectively. (As well as in other wards, consulting a doctor and answering basic questions for results are free of charge.)

Meanwhile in Katsushika ward, a chest-X-ray for aged 40 or over, a stomach exam (using barium) for aged 35 or over and/or a fecal occult blood test for aged between 40 and 75 require a person ￥1,000, ￥1,000 and/or ￥500 respectively.

In Suginami ward, a chest X-ray for aged between 30 and 65 (it’s free of charge for aged 65 or over), a fecal occult blood test for aged 40 or over and/or a prostate-cancer test for aged 50, 55, 60, 65 or 70 require a person to pay ￥300, ￥200 and/or ￥700 respectively.

Let’s look into the case of Chiba prefecture. To receive medical checkups at Chiba Foundation for Health Promotion & Disease Prevention, a person can see a doctor for ￥3,570. A person aged less than 35 can see a doctor, go through a chest X-ray and exams for his/her hearing ability and urine for ￥5,460. To see a doctor and go through a chest X-ray, an EKG and exams for his/her hearing ability, liver function, blood fat levels, blood sugar levels, HbA1c and anemia cost at ￥10,500.

After all, in the event of sickness, deciding on either over-the-counter medicine or seeing a doctor must depend on working, financial and/or other conditions. Deeper knowledge about these options, however, should help judge which is optimum. [nice, but I do not understand the link between the hospital fees, drugstores, and economy]