Calling an ambulance in Japan

This year I had several occasions to be taken to a hospital in Japan by ambulance and would like to share my experiences so those people that have never been in the situation get an idea of what to expect.

In Japan ambulance pick-up is free of cost so you don’t have to be afraid of any extra charges. You only pay the regular medical fees at the hospital you are transported to. If, after the ambulance arrives and you talk to the paramedics, you realize that your case is not as urgent as you thought and decide not to be taken to a hospital, you will not be charged anything.

When you call an ambulance in Japan staff will first ask you about the emergency and for your address. After the ambulance is dispatched you will get another call asking for details about the patient like medical history, medication, etc. They will also ask you to prepare patient's insurance card and the booklet that shows which medication they are currently taking.

When the ambulance arrives paramedics will ring your doorbell.  If you can walk, you get into the ambulance on foot. If not, the paramedics will transport you on a stretcher.

Inside the ambulance they will measure your heart rate, blood oxygen, blood pressure and temperature.

The ambulance team will ask you or the person that accompanies you several questions about the emergency and medical history.

They will then call several hospitals until they find one that has available capacity. Depending on the how many corona cases there are, at the moment it can take a while until they find a hospital that can take you in. In my case, all communication was done in Japanese so I cannot say anything about the ability of paramedics to deal with patients that do not speak Japanese.

Once a hospital is found they will drive you there as fast as possible and transport you into urgent care once you have arrived.

Then the hospital will take care of you and begin your treatment. If, after treatment, you do not need to stay at the hospital and you can go home, you will have to take care of transportation yourself.

I hope this post can be helpful for anyone that has never had to call an ambulance in Japan and is wondering how the process works. Nevertheless, I hope you will never be in a situation where you have to call one.