Tokyo, Oct. 27 (Jiji Press)–Longer deliberations at standing parliamentary committees are linked to higher medical expenses for relevant national public servants at the Cabinet Office and nine Japanese ministries, a survey study has shown. At a time when long working hours associated with parliamentary affairs have become an issue, the necessity of appropriate health management has been highlighted in the study, conducted mainly by Keio University. A paper on the study was published in an international occupational health journal by Monday. A research team led by Koryu Sato, a full-time lecturer at Keio University, focused on statistics on medical fee statements for national public servants who visited medical institutions. It examined the correlation between the fees and annual deliberation times at standing committees of the House of Representatives and the Senate, the lower and upper chambers of the Diet, Japan’s parliament, that oversee policy areas relevant to each ministry or office. The team’s survey covered about 250,000 individuals aged 18 to 50 who worked at the headquarters of the Cabinet Office and nine ministries, excluding the environment and defense ministries, over the eight years through 2023. The team analyzed 6,454 outpatient medical claims sampled from statistical surveys of claims reviewed in April each year. The health ministry recorded the highest monthly outpatient medical expenses per worker at 5,125 yen. The Ministry of Justice followed with 5,056 yen, and the agriculture ministry with 4,637 yen. At the health ministry, medical expenses related to mental disorders were particularly high. The lowest average was 2,374 yen at the Foreign Ministry. The longest cumulative deliberation time during the eight-year period was also recorded by the health ministry, at 2,534 hours, more than 1,000 hours longer than the second-place Cabinet Office. At government entities where deliberation time per worker in the previous year increased by 1 pct, medical costs in April of the following year tended to be 0.25 pct higher. Medical expenses among Finance Ministry workers were relatively low, but Budget Committee deliberation time was not included in the survey. Sato said that the workers “may find it difficult to see a doctor because of strenuous work.” “In this study, we used deliberation time as an indicator of how busy each ministry and office is, but it is necessary to properly grasp the working hours and workload of national public servants,” Sato added. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
