Opening of the Center for Global Health
Building a Healthcare System for Foreign Patients

 Osaka University Hospital (OUH) opened the Center for Global Health (CGH) in April 2013 to manage and coordinate all of the operations for providing healthcare to foreign patients. The move was spurred by a gradual increase in foreign patients and particularly those who traveled to Japan purposely to obtain advanced medical care from the late 2000s and subsequently the various troubles and complaints that arose from virtually every department because of language barriers and religious and cultural differences. As we became increasingly aware of the need for a centralized department for managing foreign patient care services, the CGH was established as a cooperative effort with the relevant departments. Since the CGH opened, CGH steering committee has met periodically, organized seminars on Department of Global on Innovative Medicine and spearheaded discussions not only with medical researchers but also diverse offices and research departments within Osaka University in a continuous effort to improve the CGH’s structure and activities.
 In order for Osaka University Hospital to provide medical services to foreign patients, the CGH had translated hospital documents into foreign languages, established rules and regulations on medical fees billing, created a network of hospital interpreters, set interpretation fees, and had prepared communication tools.
 Furthermore, with the cooperation of OUH’s Medical Affairs Division, the CGH made it possible to enter the names of foreign patients in both alphabet and Japanese phonetics in electronic medical charts that went into use on January 1, 2016, as well as had the patient’s nationality, mother tongue and address overseas included. This was an important step towards collecting and analyzing statistical information on foreign patients.
 Moreover, as of October 2017, every department has a doctor in charge of international medicine so that inquiries from foreign nationals and any needed medical services proceed more smoothly.