“Special Functioning Hospital” is a medical institution officially approved by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare as one being dedicated to developments of medicine, medical technology and human resources and being equipped with high-grade medical safety, functions and abilities. Among the entire 8,000-something hospitals in Japan, other than 80 hospitals of universities and medical colleges, and 3 hospitals in the National Center for Global Health and Medicine, only 3 of the Osaka Medical Center for Cancer and Cardiovascular Diseases, the Cancer Institute Hospital and the SCC are the ones being approved. In Shizuoka Pref., the Hamamatsu University Hospital is the only other medical institution that has been approved as a Special Functioning Hospital.
The approval means nothing less than that the SCC ensures the same level of high-grade functions as university hospitals and the National Center for Global Health and Medicine. It helps boosting the quality of local medical care through rearing and training young medical staff coming out from all over Japan. At the same time, it helps strengthening ties with local hospitals and clinics. It is also expected that the approval will possibly boost the Farma Valley Project, as the development of medical technology is being promoted and recognized highly.
