[Education in medical technology].

This year the education of Medical Technologists has reached the third turning point. The first turning point was the start of the two-year education of health laboratory technicians in 1958 and the second turning point was the start of the three-year education of Medical Technologists in 1971 and, this time, the third turning point is the start of the full-fledged university education. All 20 national education facilities for Medical Technologists and 2 public junior colleges have started the university education from this year. Adding the existing universities, about a half of education facilities for Medical Technologists are universities. From this situation, human resource development with not only knowledge and technique as medical technologists but also with humanly nurtured sentiment is expected in the future. In such situation, I'd like to discuss the progress of education of Medical technologists for 53 years, the current educational situation, and the future education of Medical technologists including the direction of desirable course for the three-year educational facilities.