Job Discussion Forums

Wolfbagger · Joined: 13 Jun 2007 Posts: 1 Location: UK

Hi,

Sorry if this has been posted elsewhere but I wondered if any UK based ELTs (or anyone else for that matter) had been requested they get a chest X-ray prior to commencing employment teaching in Japan due to new Japanese labor regulations. I only ask cos I have looked into it and it seems fairly impossible in the UK. My local GP will not refer me to a hospital for an X-ray without there being a legitimate medical reason and the X ray department at the hospitals will not perform an X ray without a doctor's referral.

Any thoughts/suggestions? I seem to be going round in circles. How necessary is this X ray?

JaredW · Posted: Sun Jun 17, 2007 11:19 pm Post subject:

Tell your doctor that you think you might have slept next to someone with TB. They'll get you in. Oh, and scratch your chest while you say it.

fluffyhamster · Posted: Mon Jun 18, 2007 6:00 am Post subject:

Is there any possibility of you getting the X-ray done ASAP after arrival in Japan (and prior to commencing the job itself - presumably teaching in close proximity to squeaky-clean kids). It would only cost you about 5,000 yen at most hospitals (and they'll gladly perfom it if you're willing to pay - it ain't the NHS, free and all that, here! Even with health insurance you'd only get covered for 70%...not that it'd be worth claiming over a measly 5,000 yen).

By the way, having a chest X-ray is not that unusual in Japan itself (welcome to one of the the TB capitals of the world). I've been asked several times - as part of the health check-ups at a private school, and seemingly as a sort of 'Aren't we a fab dispatch company for screening our AETs so thoroughly' thing/service.

When I applied and got onto JET several years ago, there may have been a section where you certified that you were free of serious diseases, but there were no compulsory health checks then that I recall.

Shimmeringstar · Joined: 18 Mar 2007 Posts: 34 Location: Kagoshima, Japan

Yeah, try to do it once you get to Japan. It's a very normal thing... most any hospital will do it for ya.

All staff at my workplace are required to have a chest x-ray every year (even Japanese staff). So, yes, it is very typical.

GWUstudent · Joined: 29 Aug 2006 Posts: 29 Location: Washington DC

I had to get one as part of an application for a research grant to study in Japan. I haven't even been accepted yet, and they demanded a chest x-ray. I'm guessing this is not an unusual request in Japan.

Dipso · Joined: 28 Apr 2004 Posts: 194 Location: England

I was supposed to have a chest X-ray before I began my post as a JET ALT and my UK doctor refused on the grounds that he thought it was a waste of time! He wrote something on my medical report to this effect and it was never an issue. I subjected my sealed medical results to JET and the missing X-ray was never mentioned. This was in 2001, by the way.