Among children’s hospitals nationwide, 43.6% require family members to stay with the hospitalized child, depending on the medical condition, according to survey results released by the Children and Families Agency on Friday.
More than 60% of medical institutions said they have family members staying with the child in 75% or more of cases, demonstrating the significant burden the practice is putting on families' lives.
Furthermore, 36.1% of the medical institutions reported that there have been cases in which child patients could not be hospitalized or were transferred to other hospitals because families were unable to fulfill the requirement to chaperone their child.
The survey was conducted in cooperation with the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare from Dec. 1 to Jan. 15, targeting children's core hospitals, children's regional medical centers and children's regional support hospitals nationwide. Responses were received from 349 medical institutions, with a valid response rate of 46.5%.
When asked about the specific conditions where children would be required to be accompanied by a family member, allowing multiple answers, 80% of the respondents said children under a certain age, while 50.3% said children in need of daily medical care and 26.6% said those with certain illnesses.
There are cases in which families become so engrossed in caring for their children that they do not get adequate sleep and nutrition, thereby jeopardizing their own health, according to the agency. To address this issue, the agency and other relevant parties will explore avenues to provide support to families, ensuring they have adequate time to care for themselves.