Univ. of Tokyo to Directly Run Hospital after Scandals

Tokyo, April 9 (Jiji Press)–The University of Tokyo will put its hospital under the direct control of the university headquarters by the end of June at the earliest as part of reform efforts following corruption scandals involving doctors at the university. The plan was featured in a set of governance reform proposals, released Wednesday, after an outside investigative panel pointed to problems at the prestigious national university, such as a lack of crisis awareness and a vertically divided organizational culture, in the wake of the scandals. Teruo Fujii, president of the university, apologized again over the scandals at a press conference Wednesday, saying the problems cited by the panel “reflect a fatal flaw of governance, and there is no excuse.” He added, “I am determined to carry out reforms with unwavering resolve so that the university can be recognized as having been reborn” before his term of office expires at the end of March next year. The university will appoint Masahiro Kuwahara, 63, a former executive at Mitsubishi UFJ Securities Holdings Co., to the post of chief risk officer and launch a risk management and compliance division. By establishing an inspection system involving outside experts, the university plans to regularly release progress reports. Since last year, a doctor and associate professor at the hospital and a professor at the university’s graduate school have been arrested and indicted for allegedly receiving bribes. Both were dismissed. An internal investigation resulted in reprimands or warnings for 21 other individuals for accepting entertainment and goods. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]