More than 10 percent of students completing mid-career courses at nursing schools operated by the Japan Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists between 1990 and 1999 were unlicensed nurses and midwives, according to a government survey.

The survey of 55 facilities nationwide -- conducted by the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry and released Tuesday -- was the first providing statistics describing the situation.

"Unqualified nurses are working in the periphery of the obstetrics and gynecological field, but it is not clear what jobs they are holding in medical facilities after they finish their course work," the ministry said.

The lawmaker who demanded the study, Tomoko Abe, a Lower House member of the Social Democratic Party, said a number of unlicensed nurses -- while they cannot supervise deliveries themselves -- are working as "assistants" to obstetricians after finishing course work at the schools.

These assistants may be contributing to medical malpractice, and state supervision should be tightened, Abe said.

According to the Health Ministry, the schools in question offer one-year courses to help mid-career nurses and midwives upgrade their obstetric knowledge and are not intended to license novices in the field.

A total of 6,144 people took the courses nationwide over a 10-year period covered by the survey. Of these, 4,362 were assistant nurses and 903 had no professional qualification.

Of the 5,620 students who completed the courses, 704 had no qualifications.

The ministry said the government issued an order to the Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists in 1997 to stop the practice of enrolling unqualified students and it stopped doing so beginning in 1998.