Japan's Suga Pushes For Health Ministry Reform At Final Presser As Ruling Party Leader

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga raised the need to reform the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare against the backdrop of an extremely high burden on the department due to COVID-19, as he gave his final press conference as the ruling party leader on Tuesday

TOKYO (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 28th September, 2021) Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga raised the need to reform the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare against the backdrop of an extremely high burden on the department due to COVID-19, as he gave his final press conference as the ruling party leader on Tuesday.

"The budget and workload of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare in general are extremely large. I believe that in addition to the minister (in charge of COVID-19 response), it is impossible to avoid creating a (separate) department and an interdepartmental system, and, ultimately, ending up reforming the entire ministry.

I have personally dealt with the fight against coronavirus over the past year and a half, and I think this issue is very important," Suga said.

Currently, Minister of State for Economic and Fiscal Policy Yasutoshi Nishimura is in charge of coronavirus response.

Earlier this month Suga announced his decision to step down amid plummeting popularity over his handling of the coronavirus response, including the slow rollout of vaccines. The ruling Liberal Democratic Party will elect a new leader on Wednesday.