Japan's health minister has pledged to address the shortage of doctors in the country after a woman in labour was turned away by eight hospitals.
A ninth hospital refused to admit her even after she miscarried in an ambulance and her baby died.
The woman, who was in the sixth month of her pregnancy, lived just three minutes away from a hospital.
But she was forced to travel 70km (45 miles) by ambulance looking for a facility that would admit her.
The woman, who lives in the countryside, called an ambulance in the middle of the night because she was suffering from stomach pains and bleeding.
For more than an hour the ambulance crew tried to find a hospital to accept her. Eight refused.
Then on the way to a ninth hospital the ambulance crashed and the woman miscarried. The hospital then changed its mind and refused to admit her.
An official told ambulance staff that treatment would be difficult and they were already busy with an emergency operation.
Eventually, almost three hours after they first arrived to pick her up, the ambulance crew found a hospital that would take her.
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Topic: Japan runs out of doctors (Read 1001 times)