# 医療法 / Medical Care Act — 第十八条 (Article 18) - Law: 医療法 (Medical Care Act), 昭和二十三年法律第二百五号 - English title "Medical Care Act": Ministry of Justice translation - Kind: Act — the distinction between 法律 (Act), 政令 (Cabinet Order), 省令 (Ministerial Order) and 条例 (local ordinance) decides who may issue it and what it may say. - Provision: 第十八条 (Article 18) — address `art-18` - Text in force since: 2026-10-01 - URL (the page that opens at this provision): https://japanlaw.org/en/medical-care-act/art-18 - Permanent URL (e-Gov law ID, never renamed): https://japanlaw.org/l/323AC0000000205/art-18 - Every provision below carries its address and both URLs on the line under it. - Japanese text: e-Gov 法令検索, Digital Agency (デジタル庁). English: as marked on each line below. Only the Japanese as published by the government has legal effect; the text below is a copy of it. Every English rendering below is a translation and says which kind: the Ministry of Justice's translation, or this site's machine translation, whose model and date the Sources list names. They are never merged and never substituted for one another. --- ### 第十八条 art-18 · https://japanlaw.org/en/medical-care-act/art-18 · https://japanlaw.org/l/323AC0000000205/art-18 **第一項** 病院又は診療所にあつては、その開設者は、厚生労働省令で定める基準に従い都道府県（診療所にあつては、その所在地が保健所を設置する市又は特別区の区域にある場合においては、当該保健所を設置する市又は特別区）の条例の定めるところにより、専属の薬剤師を置かなければならない。ただし、病院又は診療所所在地の都道府県知事の許可を受けた場合は、この限りでない。 art-18/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/en/medical-care-act/art-18/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/l/323AC0000000205/art-18/par-1 The establisher of a hospital or clinic must provide an exclusive pharmacist in the relevant hospital or clinic in accordance with the standards specified by an Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare and in accordance with Ordinances of the Prefecture (or, in the case of a clinic situated in a city or special ward with a public health center, the relevant city or special ward with a public health center); provided, however, that this does not apply where permitted by the prefectural governor of the area in which the hospital or clinic is situated. Ministry of Justice translation with a slip corrected by this site — not the Ministry's text; the Ministry printed: "The organizer of a hospital or clinic must provide an exclusive pharmacist in the relevant hospital or clinic in accordance with the standards specified by an Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare and in accordance with Ordinances of the Prefecture (or, in the case of a clinic situated in a city or special ward with a public health center, the relevant city or special ward with a public health center); provided, however, that this does not apply where permitted by the prefectural governor of the area in which the hospital or clinic is situated." — https://www.japaneselawtranslation.go.jp/en/laws/view/4006/tb ## Cited by 5 provisions cite this one. No official source publishes this direction. - 医療法 第七条第一項 — https://japanlaw.org/en/medical-care-act/art-7/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/l/323AC0000000205/art-7/par-1 - 医療法 第八十九条第一項第一号 — https://japanlaw.org/en/medical-care-act/art-89/par-1/item-1 · https://japanlaw.org/l/323AC0000000205/art-89/par-1/item-1 - 医療法 附則第九十九条第一項 — https://japanlaw.org/en/medical-care-act/suppl-3231-205/art-99/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/l/323AC0000000205/suppl-3231-205/art-99/par-1 - 医療法 附則第二十一条第三項（医療法の一部改正に伴う経過措置） — https://japanlaw.org/en/medical-care-act/suppl-4231-105/art-21/par-3 · https://japanlaw.org/l/323AC0000000205/suppl-4231-105/art-21/par-3 - 医療法 附則第百二十三条第二項（検討） — https://japanlaw.org/en/medical-care-act/suppl-4231-105/art-123/par-2 · https://japanlaw.org/l/323AC0000000205/suppl-4231-105/art-123/par-2 --- ## Sources - claude-opus-5-5 — Corrections to the Ministry of Justice's English of paragraphs, written 2026-10-19 - e-Gov 法令検索, Digital Agency (デジタル庁) — 医療法 — the text in force from 2026-10-01 (https://laws.e-gov.go.jp/law/323AC0000000205/20261001_507AC0000000087), retrieved 2026-10-19 - Japanese Law Translation Database System, Ministry of Justice (法務省) — Medical Care Act — Ministry of Justice translation (https://www.japaneselawtranslation.go.jp/en/laws/view/4006/tb), retrieved 2026-10-19 - Japanese Law Translation Database System, Ministry of Justice (法務省) — Medical Care Act (医療法), Article 18, paragraph (1) — the Ministry of Justice's English as printed (https://www.japaneselawtranslation.go.jp/en/laws/view/4006/tb), retrieved 2026-10-19 - This site's parser, version 210 — 医療法 — structure, counts, cross-references and defined terms, computed 2026-10-19