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大阪赤十字病院
Say “Osaka Sekijuji Byoin” and show the driver 大阪赤十字病院. Seven minutes’ walk from Tsuruhashi station on the JR Osaka Loop Line, the Kintetsu lines and the Sennichimae subway.
Read “Osaka Sekijuji Byoin”.
- TypePublic — run by the Japanese Red Cross Society
- BedsAbout 826
- Address5-30 Fudegasakicho, Tennoji-ku, Osaka 543-8555
- Switchboard+81 6 6774 5111
- Foreign patients, English only+81 6 6774 5184
- Emailhospital@osaka-med.jrc.or.jp
- Websiteosaka-med.jrc.or.jp
- HoursEmergency and critical care centre; the hospital states there are hours when its emergency department cannot respond fully
- LanguagesA telephone line answered in English only; the hospital states it places international medical coordinators, uses remote multilingual interpreting and provides forms in several languages
- AccreditationJMIP (Japan Medical Service Accreditation for International Patients) — certified 2020 and renewed in May 2026 to June 2029, per the hospital’s own site
- On the mapOpen in Google Maps
A large Japanese Red Cross hospital in Tennoji-ku, and by its own account the first medical institution in Osaka City accredited under JMIP, the national scheme for hospitals that accept international patients. It keeps a separate telephone number answered in English, provides forms in several languages and uses remote interpreting. The catch is the front door: the hospital states that it does not accept first visits from patients without a referral letter, so telephone before you set out.
What it is known for
Being the Osaka hospital that has actually built for foreign patients. It states that it was the first medical institution in Osaka City accredited under JMIP, the national scheme that assesses hospitals on their ability to treat international patients, and that its current certificate runs to 2029. Behind the badge are practical things: a separate telephone number answered in English, multilingual signs, questionnaires and consent forms, international medical coordinators on the staff and a remote interpreting service. It is a general hospital of a little over 800 beds, founded in 1909, with an emergency and critical care centre attached.
Who it suits
Anyone who wants to be dealt with in English and has time to telephone first. Ring +81 6 6774 5184, the line the hospital reserves for foreign patients and answers in English only, describe the problem and ask what to do; that call is the whole reason to choose this hospital. It suits travellers staying around Namba, Tennoji or Uehommachi, all a short ride away. It suits you less if you have simply turned up ill without a referral letter, because the hospital says it does not take first visits on that basis.
Cost and insurance
A visitor is not covered by Japan’s national health insurance and pays the whole bill. If the hospital does see a first-time patient who has no referral letter, it charges 11,000 yen including tax on top of the treatment, and 3,300 yen at a later visit in the same position; both figures are published on its own site. Settle at the cashier before you leave, in cash or by card, and expect to claim the money back from your insurer rather than have it billed direct. Ask for an itemised receipt, and ask early about an English medical certificate, which is a separate paid document.
Getting there
In Tennoji-ku, about seven minutes on foot from Tsuruhashi, which is served by the JR Osaka Loop Line, the Kintetsu lines and the Sennichimae subway — two stops from Namba. It is roughly ten minutes from Kintetsu Osaka-Uehommachi and fifteen from Tanimachi 9-chome on the Tanimachi subway line. Show a driver the address rather than saying it. The hospital’s English pages sit under the /english/ path of its own site; the English flag on its homepage points at an outside translation service that was not working when this page was checked.
Details checked against the hospital’s own website, September 2026. Call before a non-urgent visit; in an emergency call 119 or the hospital’s own emergency line above. Travel information, not medical advice.
The other 2 hospitals in Osaka
- Osaka Medical CenterPublic, about 605 beds, Tanimachi 4-chome, by Osaka Castle Park.
- Sumitomo HospitalPrivate, about 496 beds, Nakanoshima, west of the Umeda hotels.