Scandals are coming so fast and furious now it seems eons ago when nursing care provider Comsn Inc. was busted by the government for inflating the number of employees on its payroll. Actually, it was only last month, and at the time the media could only concentrate on the particulars, namely Comsn's duplicity and the immediate effect the scandal had on individuals.
It was a classic case of not seeing the forest for the trees. Caregivers and "home helpers" would lose their jobs, and elderly people who relied on them would be stranded without assistance until new companies could replace them. As always, the poignancy of isolated cases was the hook: This is the sad result of Comsn's selfish actions.
But since then the press has had time to look more carefully at the bigger picture, and while Comsn remains a villain, the entire kaigo (nursing care) system has come under a dark cloud. The main problem, as illustrated by Comsn's inventing employees for an Aomori Prefecture care center, is a shortage of personnel. In order to receive or renew a license to provide nursing care, a care center must have a minimum number of people in its employ. But why is there a labor shortage in the first place?