The health ministry is considering the introduction of a system that would allow prefectural governors to sack heads of hospitals that neglect to take preventive measures for malpractice, it was learned Sunday.

The move will be included in a set of revisions to a ministry ordinance pertaining to the Medical Service Law and will take effect on Oct. 1, according to sources.

The revisions are being implemented because serious malpractice cases continue to be reported, such as the death of a 12-year-old girl after an operation at Tokyo Women's Medical University Hospital in 2001. Her death was attributed to a problem with a heart-lung machine, and two doctors were arrested in connection with the case.

Under the revised ordinance, all hospitals and clinics nationwide that accept inpatients would be obliged to set up a structure to ensure medical safety. Prefectural governments would be empowered to order them to improve operations if they fail to take proper steps to ensure the safety of their patients, the sources said.

If operations remain unsatisfactory, governors could force the hospital's director resign, they said.

The four steps outlined in the proposed revisions are: creating safety management guidelines; securing an internal system to report accidents; holding sessions of in-house safety management committees; and carrying out training sessions for staff.

At present, all facilities designated by the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry as advance treatment hospitals are obliged to follow the four steps. The revised ordinance, however, would require all hospitals to do so, the sources said.

The revisions would also require advanced treatment hospitals to have personnel solely responsible for safety management, to create a new section for safety control and to set up a section to handle complaints from patients. The measures would have to be implemented by April 1.