An adventure into Japanese health care

My knowledge of doctors and hospitals in Japan is above average, having lived here for 46 years while working in the health care industry and receiving medical care, including four operations, says long-time Japanese industry watcher P Reed Maurer, president of International Alliances Limited. But this year I experienced total immersion in the system and came out fully convinced it works both medically and economically. This is the story.

Initial diagnosis

In February at the Jikei University Hospital I was diagnosed with vocal-chord cancer, a squamous cell carcinoma. My first lesson was to appreciate the conservative nature of Japanese physicians. Vocal-chord cancer can be observed by putting a camera up the nose and down the throat but that was not enough.