Tokio hat die längsten Wartezeiten für Krankenwagen im Land, mit durchschnittlich 60 Minuten vom Anruf bis zum Eintreffen im Krankenhaus. Die überalterte Gesellschaft belastet die medizinischen Ressourcen.
https://www.dailyshincho.jp/article/2026/06221000/?all=1
18 Kommentare
I had a health emergency at work one day. They called an ambulance which came. They spent 20 minutes asking me questions at work. Then wheeled me out to the ambulance where we sat while they called around to various hospitals. There was a hospital literally 200 meters away – they finally took me there.
So, based on my limited experience, there is an issue with the process and system. It took twice as along to get to the hospital as it should have.
That metric is a little unfair to the ambulances. The one time I called one, they got to me quite quickly. The problem was finding a hospital that would take me.
I hear that’s pretty typical.
The problem is real, but it lies at least as much in the lack of emergency medical facilities, and the system as a whole.
Give the poor ambulance drivers a break (unlike Tokyo pedestrians who seldom even stop crossing the street to let the ambulance pass).
Not surprised, considering everytime I see ambulance it goes only slightly faster (if at all) than the surrounding traffic (I mean on wide, long streets), obeying traffic lights and sometimes even letting the pedestrians go first (despite the pedestrians clearly yielding to the ambiance with lights on).
You see, it is because foreigners. Japanese government needs a special office to deal with foreigners abusing the system /s
I dunno. I live in Tokyo and had a medical emergency three times in the last two years and every time got to the hospital very quickly, much faster than this hour mentioned. And I always asked to go to a specific hospital in Tokyo. 🤷♂️
I think the medical care here is fantastic.
When I broke my ankles they came very fast, the problem was the 30 minutes stuck in the ambulance while they phoned hospitals to see who would take me…
There’s a couple of other issues as well: the fact that ambulance crews are often not trained emergency personnel, and that they have to shop around for a hospital while on the way with many hospitals flat out refusing to take the patient. You absolutely want to have a backup plan and specifically, a go-to hospital checked out beforehand so you know where to direct them in case of.
Was just thinking about this, but I’ve seen 3 ambulances today, and they all cross intersections soo slowly. Legit like 30 sec before they cross, even if all traffic is standing still. If it’s like that at every intersection..
Get 上, get, get, get 下
911 is a joke in 東京
An hour? That’s nothing — I called for an ambulance in Ontario, canada late last year and it took three hours for one to arrive.
Also — wait for it — it *could be* (I’m not saying it definitely is) down to HOW FUCKING SLOW THEY DRIVE AND NOBODY GETS OUT OF THEIR WAY!
Constantly smh at people here, Jesus
Don’t confuse time waiting for an ambulance and waiting in an ambulance.
This is a problem that corrects itself thankfully
I had to call an ambulance in Sendai in late March. Arrived in less than five minutes 😃
The entire system is utter shit. Every step of the way.
They also drive slow as shit
The Japanese system is inherently flawed. In the UK the paramedics are university level trained- they can assess, diagnose, treat, discharge at scene, and decide whether hospital transport is needed. Some advanced paramedics can prescribe medicines.
Whereas the Japanese ambulance workers are physician led and are limited to giving epinephrine for cardiac arrest, oxygen, saline, only if an ELST qualified life saving technician is on board. Otherwise they are basically ferrying you to the hospital.
With so many private hospitals struggling for cash I can see the system improving unfortunately.
Although with the aging population it would be wiser for larger hospitals to consider to downsizing and adopting a paramedic system similar to the UK to reduce their overheads and reach a wider community- no idea if this would be feasible without government education policy change or whether the paramedics would train under the hospitals guidance directly.
I was riding in one for almost 2 hours because hospitals didn’t want to take a foreigner without any contact person. In the end they took me to neighbor prefecture (Tokyo).