Health Check in Japan

In Japan everyone with a job and proper insurance have to check their health every year. This health-check include tests for sight, hearing, weight, height, lungs, blood and more. How the health-check is done, is kinda different from the Netherlands or any other Western country for that matter.

The good news is that the test can be done during office-hours. ;-) Last Thursday I went together with Mami. After arrival I saw a lot of patients in the waiting room wearing some special (hospital) clothes. Later, it seemed that all patience HAVE to wear this (and if you know me, I hate such things). After telling the reception I arrived they told me to change clothes. Obviously they were waaaaay to small, it looked very stupid I think.

When a test was finished, I had to wait in the queue for the next test. Kinda like an assembly line. Two hours later all tests were done and I could finally go back to the office. I didn’t like the X-Ray and MRI-like scan much, because it has to be done every year.

This assembly line idea is actually really efficient for the clinic. One nurse for every test and a queue at every test so that the throughput is really high and less doctors are needed. But from the patient’s point of view, it’s probably the most inefficient way to do a health-check. It’s not only a waste of time, but these tests are also kinda personal and that personal feeling is gone once you are on the assembly line.