Ⅶ. Pregnancy, Birth and Infant Welfare
After pregnancy is confirmed, notify the Juminka（住民課）section of the Municipal Office in your area. Provide the full name of your doctor, address of your hospital and Certificate of Alien Registration. You will be issued a Mother and Baby’s Handbook（Boshi kenko-techo 母子健康手帳）in which doctors and health workers record details of pre-natal examinations, tests, labor and birth and the child’s medical and dental history and immunizations.
You will be given vouchers for free compulsory blood tests（Ketsueki Kensa 血液検査）
which can be administered by your doctor during a pre-natal visit. One voucher covers anemia（Hinketsu貧血）and syphilis（Baidoku 梅毒）and the other covers hepatitis B（B gata kan-en Ｂ型肝炎）. Health Insurance dose not cover the doctor’s fee for normal delivery. However, if complications arise, fees are partly covered.
・Birth Registration (Shussho todoke)
出生届Notify the Immigration Office and Juminka section of your local municipal office within two weeks of the birth of your child. A foreigner’s card will be registered, so community health offices can notify you when physical examinations or immunizations are due.
・Infant Health Check (Nyuyo-ji Kenshin)
乳幼児健診A range of free infant welfare services are provided. If you have either Employee’s Health Insurance or National Health Insurance, all doctor’s bills are insured for the baby’s first three years. Medicines are free, although there may be a small charge for containers.
In most local area, free physical examinations for infants are carried out at the local Community Health Center. Examinations are recommended at 3-4 months, 10-11 months or whenever you are concerned about your baby’s health. Contact the local offices where you live for infant physical examination schedules.
A malignant tumor, Neuroblastoma (Shinkeiga-saibosyu 神経芽細胞腫) is curable if diagnosed early. The screening test of this tumor is performed at the Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, Tokushima University. Mass screening test for such rare infant diseases as Cretinism (Kurechin-sho クレチン症), Phenylketonuria (Feniruketon nyosho フェニールケトン尿症), Maple Syrupuria (Mepurusiroppu nyosho メープルシロップ尿症), Homocystinuria (homosisuchin nyosho ホモシスチン尿症), Galactosemia (Garakutosu kessho ガラクトース血症), and Adrenal Hyperplasia (Hukujin-kakeisei 副腎過形成) are carried out at the Tokushima Prefectural Center of Public Health and Environmental Science.
Tokushima-daigaku igakubu huzoku byoin syonika 徳島大学医学部付属病院小児科
徳島市蔵本町2-50-1 TEL:088-633-7135
Tokushima-ken hoken-kankyo center 徳島県保健環境センター
徳島市万代町5-71 TEL:088-625-7751
A comprehensive physical examination, including eyesight, hearing and dental check, and developmental assessment is offered for babies at 18 months and 3 years at the local Community Health Center. The local municipal office where you live will notify you by mail about when and where to attend. Immunizations for Diphtheria･
Pertussis･ Tetanus (7 months old), Measles (13 months old), German Measles (25 months old, 1st grade, 8th grade), Polio (3-14 months old) and Tuberculin Test & BCG (39 months old) , will be also notified by mail from the local municipal office.