Hospital Regulations?

Id like to ask regarding hospital regulations over there in japan. Is it true that they prohibit patients from using their cellphones? Like, a friend of mine was hospitalized recuperating and is now in good condition, already in her room but when i called her, she said that cellphones are not allowed. Isnt it supposed to be that communication with outside parties a must during this situations? Just wondering though..

Because cell phones can interfere with medical equipment, the use of cell phones is prohibited in most hospitals in Japan (and the rest of the world). Some hospitals limit the cell phone restrictions to rooms or sections where there is a risk of interference.

Landline phones are readily available at Japanese hospitals.

Cellphone use is prohibited in the patient areas in many US hospitals as well.

However many recent studies have shown cell phone use doesn't bother with modern hospital technology. But many hospitals haven't gotten on to lifting rules (in the us that is).

Two years ago my friend spent 3 weeks in a hospital in Tokyo with typhoid (in isolation). She was allowed to use her cellphone as much as she wanted- emails, phone calls, whatever. It must depend on the hospital and section of the hospital- perhaps because she was in isolation and nowhere near ICU for example, it wasn't a problem.

Anyone who has traveled by air knows that for the same reason, cell phone use is prohibited inside aircrafts all over the world, at least upon lift off and landing. It may cause a plane crash when it affects the control devises.

In Japan, the most commonly known affect is about the heart pacemaker. However, I've seen a Japanese TV program where a specialist explained that the danger of cell phones affect pacemakers that are about a foot apart from the phone, and that in other words, a person with a pacemaker planted in his/her heart can just manage to press a cell phone to his/her ear.

I think that, in other words, if you walk around inside a hospital while using your mobile phone and some tall person with a heart pacemaker happens to walk very close to your phone on your ear, that person might be endangered. Of if someone with a devise happens to bump into you, that's dangerous too. Or since most people in Japan know (from the train regulations prohibiting cell phones) that mobile phones can endanger health devises, they might be stressed when they see one in a hospital.

So I am assuming that rather than to say, "You may use your mobile phone here in our hospital, but avoid walking around, and be sure no one bumps into you, and watch out for certain sensitive devises that are shaped like this, and be sure no one is stessed by looking at you" they decided to say, "Cell phones are allowed only at restricted areas."

I am pretty sure they are usually allowed in single rooms, but most hospital beds in Japan are in a group rooms, which keeps you company anyway :)