Urban legend about Osaka homeless hospitals

Mr. K, a university student who started a part-time job at a caterer in Nishinari Ward, a labor district in Osaka City, went around the customers' premises, such as small town factories and construction sites, to collect the used lunch boxes. Only one hospital was included in those customers. He also thought that the hospital that took lunch boxes was uncommon. The staff at this hospital do not eat lunch in the cafeteria, but instead eat the lunch boxes delivered by the caterer.

The hospital he visited for the first time stood on the side of the road without a garden. He was told by his seniors, "There is no entrance, so go in through the outpatient entrance." He wanted to do exactly that. However, on the contrary, it seemed that there was no entrance and only a doorway. Moreover, it is guarded by an iron grill. Is this the front door?

He was able to get in at the right time, as a person who looked like a staff member came out from inside. But he thinks. It's not like a hospital. Even if the outpatient reception is open only in the morning, if it is before 2:00 pm, there may be people who have not completed the accounting and usually there are many people in the lobby. No, in fact, there was only a small space that couldn't be called a lobby.

He passed by a woman who seemed to be leaving the hospital as he tried to retrieve used lunch boxes. But the woman, who looks around 50 years old, shook her legs and dropped the paper bag she had in her hand on the floor. Dozens of 500-yen coins spilled out of her.

The friendly K-kun was sorry that he was in the way and helped to collect the 500-yen coins. The woman thanked him and she laughed, but her teeth were missing.

A middle-aged man appeared and said, "You're a new part-time worker at the caterer. Given the cost of collecting the lunch boxes, I think it would be better to use disposable lunch boxes. Well, our hospital costs 7,000 yen for one washbasin."

"What? Is it such a high-class washbasin?" K responds unintentionally.

The man answers. "Oh no. There are so many things in the world, you know? The people who come in here leave the hospital without paying any money.The weird woman just made money and was discharged from the hospital instead of paying, so it's not normal. "

"Huh?"

"People who are hospitalized here usually only have a few tens of yen in their pockets. To put it bluntly, they specialize in people who have fallen over. In industry terms, they specialize in "Koro" homeless people. Well, you will learn the truth of society that you couldn't study at school. Hahaha ".

The man is gone. Mr. K is full of doubts. At a hospital where only people who don't have money come, is a washbasin 7,000 yen? It was strange, but why did the woman just have so many 500-yen coins?

When Mr. K returned to the caterer's office, a senior part-time student approached him. "Isn't that hospital a little surprising? The patients' hospitalization fees are all paid from our tax. I don't pay much tax, though. Those who are, and who are unlikely to have a health insurance card, that is, homeless sick or injured, are brought to that hospital. They are called 'Koro san'."

"What is a 7,000 yen washbasin?"

"If you are hospitalized there, you will be given various tests. Even if you are debilitated due to malnutrition, you will always have a CT scan and a gastrocamera test.

"The inspection fee alone is tens of thousands a day. It costs money anyway. So, the hospital charges it to the national government or the local government.

"The hospital gives every patient a set of washbasins with toothbrushes and towels, and the price is 7,000 yen, which is more than 10 times the market price."

However, even if the mystery of 7,000 yen is solved by this, the mystery that dozens of 500 yen coins spilled from the paper bag of the woman who should have been hospitalized there because she does not have money is not solved yet. .. When I talked about it, his senior grinned.

"I wish you were taken care of," he said, and the momentum was such that laughter was about to spill out from his senior's mouth. "That middle-aged woman seems to be a regular at that hospital, but she seems to be doing business on the roof when she is hospitalized."

"What is business?"

"You look well-bred. Are you still a virgin? That woman usually operates in the corner of a park, but when she is hospitalized, she operates on the rooftop. It's 500 yen each time. It's a one-coin prostitution. "

This is one of the crazy anecdotes of my beloved hometown, Osaka.This isn't really an urban legend, it's a true story I've heard from someone close to me. In Japanese, it seems that some people overreact to this article, which is annoying, but in English, it's probably okay.