INTERVIEW: New Digital Minister Seeks National Debate on Medical Data Use

Tokyo, Nov. 4 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s new digital transformation minister Hisashi Matsumoto has called for a national debate on the utilization of medical data for drug development. “Japan could secure huge national interest by improving its ability to develop drugs,” Matsumoto said in an interview Friday, adding that he has been “frustrated” many times over the difficulties using medical data during his career as a doctor. “I’m eager to lower the hurdle for using medical data, but it’s also important to protect personal information,” he said, stressing that the topic must be “discussed nationally.” Matsumoto, who took office last month, said it is regrettable that Japan has incurred digital service trade deficits, noting that the delay of digitalization caused the country to considerably lose its national interest during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Digital Agency will work on eliminating the deficit by utilizing domestic cloud services and large language models, he said. Anxiety and hesitation about digitalization have helped spread misunderstanding about the My Number personal identification card, Matsumoto said, vowing to explain matters related to a digitalized society one by one. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]