The Healthcare Network meeting was held in Osaka

Strategic Management Institute, Pharmaceutical and Medical Network Section

On Sunday, June 30, 2019, the Pharmaceutical and Medical Network Subcommittee of the Strategic Management Institute (Healthcare Network), founded by Professor Yuji Nagasawa, was held at the Osaka Campus. Current and former students gathered to discuss and make presentations in groups on three topics presented in advance.

The following three topics were presented:
1. Issues in promoting hospital business plans in Vietnam
2. Healthcare and IT - Remote robotics - How to fight university ventures
3. Healthcare and IT - Can blockchain change healthcare in Japan?    

The network has nearly 400 members in Tokyo, Nagoya, and Osaka, mainly current and former students working in the pharmaceutical and medical industries, and meets regularly at campuses in Tokyo, Nagoya, and Osaka. It is not only people engaged in the healthcare industry who participate in the study group. People from a wide range of industries, such as consulting, manufacturing, distribution, and service industries, participated to improve their own insight and exchanged opinions on the future of healthcare. For those in the healthcare industry, the network provides exposure to the ideas of other industries to gain new ideas and insights.

Challenges in moving forward with the hospital business plan in Vietnam

In urban areas such as Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, there are several private hospitals and clinics equipped with modern medical equipment, and more and more Japanese clinics have recently moved into the area, as well as medical institutions where Japanese medical professionals work. However, the medical environment in urban areas differs greatly from that in rural areas, and the regional disparity in medical standards has been widening in recent years.

In addition, the medical environment differs greatly between public and private medical institutions. Public medical institutions lack the absolute number of medical staff, acceptance capacity, and medical equipment, and patients are concentrated in the core hospitals, making the core hospitals constantly crowded with patients and unable to fulfill their original functions. Under these circumstances, the participants discussed and exchanged opinions on how to proceed with hospital business planning, as well as various problems and future challenges in promoting hospital business in developing countries.

In the subsequent agenda, opinions were exchanged from various perspectives in the healthcare industry, which continues to undergo technological innovation at an ever-evolving pace. The Healthcare Network is also a place where current students and graduates can actively interact with each other, build networks, and learn from each other, not only while in school but also after graduation.