Japan Medical Association


The lead=yes, is the largest professional association of licensed physicians in Japan. The JMA has been a member of the World Medical Association since 1951 and participates at all levels of the WMA. National headquarters are located in Honkomagome, Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan, supplemented by prefectural branch offices and member associations in local communities.

History

With the increasing introduction of western medicine, medical research and peer support among doctors developed during the Meiji period of the late 1800s. In 1879, medical practitioners who subscribed to the practice of kampo medicine began to organise themselves in response to Western medicine's growing presence in post-Meiji restoration Japan. Those physicians formed the Imperial Medical Association in 1890 to advocate for the practice of Chinese medicine, but the IMA was dissolved in 1898.
As the medical profession continued to develop in line with Western scientific advances of the time, the public wanted to legally regulate medical organisations. In 1906, statutory procedures were implemented to organise professional association activities at the prefectural and local municipality levels, and to require physicians practicing medical services outside of the public hospitals system to join the member association branch in the locality where they practice medicine.
Regional medical associations had emerged during the period after 1906, but no national organisation existed to regulate the 30,000 medical doctors practicing outside the national university and Imperial armed forces hospital systems. An attempt to organise physicians on a national level was made under the name Japan Allied Medical Association in 1914, but the association failed to enlist a sufficient number of prefectural-level medical associations.
On November 10, 1916, the Greater Japan Medical Association was established by the Minister for Interior Affairs, and then later renamed the Japan Medical Association in 1923. The JMA required by law that all Japanese physicians practicing in clinics and hospitals outside the national and Imperial armed forces hospital system to join. During World War 2, the JMA served as the sole national association responsible to maintain and improve clinical health for the Japanese public. During the post-war period the Japan Medical Association underwent reforms with direct intervention from the GHQ of the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers. The most notable reform involved persons who had contributed to the war effort and who would no longer be permitted to accept executive appointments in the ongoing business of the association. Following this directive, Toshihiko Nakayama, the chairman of the association at the time, announced that he and others with similar positions would no longer hold offices in the association.
Without the demands of World War 2 on the medical fraternity, the association was able to refocus efforts on school, occupation, and community health in addition to standard clinical healthcare. On November 1, 1947, toward the end of the Allied occupation of Japan, the association recommenced operation under the name "Japan Medical Association" as a non-governmental organization, which previously had been under direct Imperial government control. The newly founded JMA had a constitution which was patterned after the American Medical Association, with voluntary membership, executive offices elected by popular vote, and association business to be conducted through democratic procedures. These activities led to the JMA being admitted to the World Medical Association in 1951. The JMA, in advocating for its members, has come into conflict with the Ministry of Welfare over amounts for medical fees.
The main activities of the JMA are to improve university medical education programs, promote and support medical research, provide professional development through continuing education to members, and collaborate with national and international governments on special clinical public healthcare projects such as disaster relief medicine.

Membership advocacy and political lobbying

The JMA has been involved in political lobbying since its inception. The main areas of advocacy include protecting physicians' interests in clinical practice, public health related policy, clinical fee adjustments set by the national health insurance body, and legal procedures related to malpractice.
For a period of almost ten years, from 1947 to 1956, the association defended physicians' rights to prescribe, formulate, and sell medicine, which the government proposed to prevent through a parliamentary bill. The JMA argued that income for physicians under the health insurance system alone was not economically sustainable, and therefore was the need for physicians to compound and sell their own formulated medications. The JMA was successful in protecting this practice.
The JMA continues to lobby the government to adjust clinical fees derived from the national health insurance system, to be adjusted in line with the cost of living. Lobbying for financial accommodations related to administrating the universal health care system is also a regular area for advocacy.
Clinical malpractice has become a focus of the association, particularly how best to protect medical physicians in legal proceedings. As Kodate notes, while there has not yet been "the emergence of a new accountability regime, increased pressure is now placed on healthcare providers in terms of monitoring performances, collecting information and making decisions on how to act when serious incidents occur."

National professional and public health programs

The Japan Medical Association maintains a number of public national public health systems, including the following:
As of 2015, there were approximately 167,000 members of the JMA organised under one of the forty-seven prefectural medical associations. Self-employed physicians make up the largest number of members, followed by hospital or small clinic-based physicians, and hospital residents.

Notable members

was co-awarded the 2012 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for their work in proving that mature cells could be converted into stem cells. The result of the work of Yamanaka and Gurdon is considered to be a scientific milestone in human regenerative medicine.
Two past presidents of the JMA, Taro Takemi and Eitaka Tsuboi, have served as president of the World Medical Association. Tsuboi pioneered cancer research and treatment in Japan and Asia, self-funded school and community health programs in Nepal, and had a role in establishing the Thai National Cancer Centre in Bangkok. In 2000, King Birendra of Nepal, decorated Tsuboi for his long term contributions to Nepal.
JMA members have also served the WMA in many other executive roles including Chair of the WMA Council and vice-president.

Public broadcast and programming

The JMA produces a variety of medical related programming for the public and allied medical persons including but not limited to: