My name is Masafumi Mizuno, and I was appointed to the Directorship of Tokyo Metropolitan Matsuzawa Hospital on April 1 this year. I look forward to working with all of our patients, their families, and visitors to our website.
The second cherry blossom season has come and gone while the coronavirus pandemic continues to rage on. The number of suicides, which had been on the wane for the past decade, is now on an upswing. The increase in suicides, especially among junior high and high school students, is heartbreaking and underscores the urgent need to build a kinder society where people can find help when in need and support each other in times of hardship. This is especially relevant to our situation today, when social distancing and other uncustomary strictures on our behavior make us sensible to a wider, deeper gulf between ourselves and our fellows.
In 2012, Matsuzawa Hospital completed construction on a 7-story, seismically isolated main building with an array of new inpatient and outpatient services. Since then, under the leadership of its former director, Dr. Masahiko Saito, the hospital has been striving to meet the expectations of the people of Tokyo and professionals in psychiatry. We have never turned down a request for treatment, have always served the community as an open hospital, and aim to continue being everyone’s top choice of treatment center, while also ensuring that the government’s mandate to provide top-quality medical care will always be met. We will continue aiming to meet the ever growing needs of our city while also taking steps forward to break new ground in psychiatric care.
“Starting in April 2022, first-year high school students throughout Japan will begin taking classes in “”Prevention and Recovery from Mental Illness.”” All the students will be expected to learn about mental health and illness, and that early support increases the likelihood of recovery. We hope that this new educational initiative will lead to the elimination of discrimination and prejudice against people with mental health issues.
Matsuzawa Hospital will seek to create a new form of psychiatric care in Japan by deepening cooperation with professionals in education, welfare, and various other fields so that our patients may look to us for the comfort and peace of mind that come with confidence in the excellence of the medical care being provided. To this end, we look forward to your continued support and guidance.”