Private hospitals and doctors in general practice took in 2.64 million yen and 2.28 million yen more in income, respectively, than they spent in June, a biennial health ministry survey showed Wednesday.
But the balance for public hospitals was a deficit of 2.33 million, yen according to the survey by the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry, which was submitted to the Central Social Insurance Medical Council.
Ministry officials said the findings are likely to increase pressure on the government to cut fee payments from government-run medical insurance systems to medical institutions as part of efforts to deal with the country's chronic budget deficit.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.