The ideal minister of health
- Health Promotion/International Health, Division of Public Health, Graduate School of Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Yushima 1-5-45 Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8519, Japan
- Correspondence to: Professor T Takano; takano.hlth{at}tmd.ac.jp
Should be an outsider
The ideal minister of health needs to be a vigorous political or social leader, above all. The minister needs to be someone who knows political realities and can push their health policies forward. The minister should selflessly devote themself to serving the public. This person needs to be a visionary, a strategic thinker, a master of organisational skill, and a skillful communicator to the general public and with ministry of health bureaucrats.
Japan is now in transition to fundamental reform of its administration system. It is moving a large, rigid government bureaucracy to a system that favours …
