A health ministry panel compiled plans Friday aimed at allowing potential foreign caregivers entering Japan under bilateral free trade agreements to take care of elderly patients at their homes.
The move to expand work opportunities for the foreign caregivers — currently limited to working in nursing care homes and other facilities — comes as the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry aims to address the acute labor shortage in Japan's nursing care sector and its rapidly graying population.
The government may implement the proposal in fiscal 2017, sources familiar with the matter said. The panel said in its report that the caregivers should be allowed to engage in home care after passing the national qualification examination.