Shortage and unequal distribution of infectious disease specialists in Japan: How can we refine the current situation?

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to assess the distribution of board-certified infectious disease (ID) specialists at medical schools and Designated Medical Institutions (DMIs) in Japan. METHODS: Data on the number of board-certified ID specialists was extracted by gender, prefecture, and hospital from the Japanese Association for Infectious Diseases database. The numbers and types of Japanese university hospitals that have a Faculty of Medicine, as well as the DMIs legally determined by the Infectious Diseases Control Law, were collected from the database of the Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare of Japan. RESULTS: As of November 2022, there were 1,688 board-certified ID specialists in Japan, with 510 employed at 82 university hospitals. Two medical schools had no ID specialists, and six had only one ID specialist. There was no ID specialists in 14.3% of Class I DMIs and 66.7% of Class II DMIs. Additionally, 14.9% of prefectures had no ID specialists at all in their Class II DMIs. The percentage of female doctors among ID specialists was 12.7%, approximately half of the overall male-to-female ratio of medical doctors in Japan. CONCLUSION: The allocation of Japanese ID specialists to medical schools and legally designated healthcare institutes is inadequate and skewed. Female physicians are expected to play a more active role in this increasing demand.