Japan Panel Urges Prescription-Free Antigen Test Kits

Tokyo, May 27 (Jiji Press)--A Japanese government panel Friday called for allowing COVID-19 antigen test kits to be bought at pharmacies without prescriptions by doctors. The proposal by the Council for Promotion of Regulatory Reform, which advises the prime minister, is aimed at promoting the use of the tests to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus as Japan prepares to fully restart economic and social activities. The panel included some 300 proposals in five fields, such as the area of medicine, nursing and infectious disease control, in its policy recommendation to the government adopted Friday. The government hopes to draw up an action plan based on the proposals and adopt it along with the economic and fiscal policy guidelines to be compiled in early June. "It is necessary to make test kits widely available and usable for businesses and the public" in order to balance economic and social activities with infection prevention, the policy paper said. It called on the government to spread information so that people who buy kits without prescriptions and test positive for the coronavirus can appropriately receive care at medical institutions. The council also proposed that online medical consultations be offered at community centers and other facilities for elderly people who are not used to digital devices. The council said that pharmacists should be allowed to perform tasks such as changing intravenous drips at patients' homes, which is currently done by nurses. In other fields, the panel demanded that the government review qualification requirements for construction and water and sewer engineers as the requirements differ based on educational backgrounds. It also sought the unification of local rules set by municipalities on paperwork that needs to be filled out to use a scheme in which agricultural land can be converted for other uses. To draw up the policy recommendation, the council utilized the regulatory reform hotline to collect opinions from the public and businesses. END