St. Luke's International Hospital

Introduction to St. Luke’s International Hospital

St. Luke’s International Hospital was founded in 1901 and has a history of more than a century. To this day, the hospital continues to uphold the founding philosophy established by its founder, Dr. Rudolf Bolling Teusler, an American missionary and physician:

“The Christian spirit of love can relieve people’s worries, ease their suffering, and help them feel reborn. In order to bring this great power to all patients, I founded this vibrant hospital.”

In 2020, Newsweek released its latest ranking of the world’s best hospitals, and St. Luke’s International Hospital was ranked No. 1 among general hospitals in Japan.

To wholeheartedly improve the quality of medical care, the hospital has established communication channels and regularly conducts patient surveys to receive feedback and suggestions. Since 2005, the hospital has evaluated more than 100 services using Quality Indicator, or QI, measures.

In August 2015, the OECD Reviews of Health Care Quality: Japan highly recognized these efforts. In the same year, the hospital received the International Hospital Federation President’s Award.

According to hospital statistics, in 2017, St. Luke’s International Hospital received 638,000 outpatient visits and 176,000 inpatient visits. These included more than 30,000 international patients from 136 countries. Patient satisfaction reached 93.8% among outpatients and 95.7% among inpatients.

In addition, as a member of the Tokyo Oncology Alliance, St. Luke’s International Hospital signed a sister hospital agreement with MD Anderson Cancer Center. Most physicians in the hospital’s oncology department have experience studying or training in the United States, which is rare among Japanese hospitals.

Thanks to its partnership with MD Anderson Cancer Center, St. Luke’s International Hospital also actively conducts international research and provides patients with opportunities to participate in clinical trials.

Former Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga once stated that the late Dr. Shigeaki Hinohara, a visiting professor at Harvard University and honorary director of St. Luke’s International Hospital, was one of the founders of modern Japanese medicine. His influence on Japanese healthcare was profound.

Near the end of World War II, in 1945, Tokyo suffered major air raids, and Dr. Hinohara participated in the treatment of the injured at St. Luke’s International Hospital.

In 1995, when the Tokyo subway sarin gas attack occurred, Dr. Hinohara, then director of St. Luke’s International Hospital, instructed the hospital to suspend all outpatient services and focus entirely on receiving all patients brought from the scene. The hospital’s small auditorium was converted into a temporary ward, and the hospital received a total of 640 patients.

Dr. Hinohara was also the first Asian to serve as president of the International Society of Internal Medicine and was a pioneer in promoting comprehensive health checkups in Japan. He established Japan’s comprehensive health screening facilities and was among the first to emphasize preventive medicine.

For this reason, St. Luke’s International Hospital became one of the first private hospitals in Japan to establish a dedicated comprehensive health checkup department.