Japan Panel Calls for Stepping Up Sharing of Cancer Patient Info

Tokyo, Feb. 27 (Jiji Press)–A regulatory reform panel of the Japanese government has called for expanding the scope of information on cancer patients that can be shared among research institutes. The proposal, intended to help promote research on cancer, is part of an interim report the panel compiled at its meeting Thursday. The report called for realizing a strong economy, as sought by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, by facilitating the use of digital technologies through deregulation amid worsening labor shortages in the country. Reading out a message from Takaichi, regulatory reform minister Minoru Kiuchi said that the measures included in the report will lead to creating a strong economy as well as revitalizing local communities and protecting people’s lives. The measures should be implemented swiftly, Kiuchi added. Under the current regulations, information on cancer patients, such as the dates and causes of deaths, needs to be processed for privacy protection when the data are provided to third parties. Given complaints that such limited information is insufficient for cancer research, the interim report sought to introduce a different data-processing method so that more detailed information is provided. The panel also proposed linking databases held by hospitals and prefectural governments. It also proposed regulatory reform to expand the use of legal services capitalizing on artificial intelligence and other digital technologies by corporations in handling legal affairs. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]