Minamata City, Kumamoto Prefecture to Introduce "Obstetrics & Gynecology and Pediatrics Online" Service from May 1st (Friday)
Kids Public Inc. has partnered with Minamata City, Kumamoto Prefecture, to launch its "Obstetrics & Gynecology and Pediatrics Online" service for Minamata City residents starting May 1, 2026. This service offers 24/7 online consultations with over 250 pediatricians, obstetricians, and midwives, aiming to alleviate anxiety and provide support for pregnancy, childbirth, and childcare, especially after the closure of a local pediatric clinic.
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- 📰 Published: May 1, 2026 at 19:00
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Kids Public Inc. (Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; Representative: Naoya Hashimoto) has partnered with Minamata City, Kumamoto Prefecture (Mayor: Toshiharu Takaoka) to launch its "Obstetrics & Gynecology and Pediatrics Online" service for Minamata City residents starting May 1, 2026 (Friday).
"Obstetrics & Gynecology and Pediatrics Online" is a service that allows 24/7 online consultations with over 250 affiliated pediatricians, obstetricians, and midwives. The "Pediatrics Online" service, which began in 2016, has been adopted by over 230 local governments and has accumulated over 300,000 consultations.
In Minamata City, new support for parenting households was needed due to the closure of a local pediatric clinic. By providing an environment where residents can easily consult specialists online through our service, we aim to alleviate the burden of commuting to hospitals, feelings of isolation, and anxiety, thereby supporting safe pregnancies, childbirths, and childcare.
■ Background of Introducing "Obstetrics & Gynecology and Pediatrics Online"
Introduction of "Obstetrics & Gynecology and Pediatrics Online Consultation" to further enhance support tailored to life stages.
Minamata City is committed to providing support tailored to all pregnant women, mothers, children, and parenting households at various life stages, based on the "3rd Minamata City Child and Child-Rearing Support Business Plan."
In recent years, the city has enhanced childcare policies, including implementing prenatal and one-month-old infant health check-ups, postpartum care programs, and subsidies for transportation and accommodation expenses for pregnant women and others traveling to distant delivery facilities.
However, challenges remained, such as the increasing number of nuclear families and dual-income households, weakening family ties leading to a lack of accessible consultation for parenting anxieties, and limited specialized consultation locations and hours for pregnancy, childbirth, and childcare due to the closure of a local pediatric clinic. There was a strong demand for establishing a system that allows easy consultation at any time.
With the official introduction of our online health and medical consultation service, "Obstetrics & Gynecology and Pediatrics Online," a system will be in place for 24/7 online consultations with pediatricians, obstetricians, and midwives. By addressing health concerns during local government closures or outside medical facility hours, parenting worries, preconception care, pregnancy, infertility, menopause, and other unique concerns for women, we will collaborate with existing support provided by Minamata City to further contribute to pregnancy, childbirth, and childcare support.
■ About the "Obstetrics & Gynecology and Pediatrics Online" Service Available in Minamata City (Partial)
Minamata City residents can consult pediatricians, obstetricians, and midwives online for free.
Anytime Consultation
Text questions are accepted 24 hours a day, with text responses provided by doctors and midwives.
Night Consultation
LINE message chat and video calls are available on weekdays from 6 PM to 10 PM (10-minute reservation slots). Reservations can be made up to 15 minutes before the consultation starts.
Daytime Midwife Consultation
LINE message chat consultations with midwives are available without reservation on weekdays from 1 PM to 5 PM.
Search Everyone's Consultations
Past consultation content submitted to our company and responses from doctors/midwives can be searched and viewed as a set.
■ About Minamata City, Kumamoto Prefecture
Minamata City, located at the southernmost tip of Kumamoto Prefecture, is a scenic town blessed with seafood and mountain delicacies, and the terraced rice fields in the Samukawa area have been selected as one of "Japan's Top 100 Terraced Rice Fields."
Under the motto "Minamata: A vibrant town where everyone feels happy and smiles," the city's basic philosophy for childcare support is "Minamata: A town where everyone can safely give birth and raise children, and children who will bear the future can grow up happily in the community." The city is committed to sustainable community development through seamless support from pregnancy to childcare.
https://www.city.minamata.lg.jp/default.html
■ About Kids Public
Established in 2015 by pediatrician Naoya Hashimoto. In May 2016, "Pediatrics Online" was launched as an online remote health and medical consultation service. In 2017, obstetrician Daisuke Shigemi joined, and the following year, "Obstetrics & Gynecology Online" was launched. In 2023, "Daytime Midwife Consultation" began operations.
The cumulative number of consultations has exceeded 300,000, and a system has been established to allow online consultations with over 250 pediatricians, obstetricians, and midwives. The service offers a wide range of consultation options, including "Anytime Consultation" for 24/7 text consultations with medical professionals, "Night Consultation" for 10-minute video calls with medical professionals, and "Search Everyone's Consultations" which allows searching over 40,000 consultation cases and responses created by doctors and midwives. It has been adopted by over 230 local governments and is also focusing on demonstration experiments, effectiveness verification, and research through online consultations.
Utilizing ICT, from pregnancy to childcare.
"Obstetrics & Gynecology and Pediatrics Online" is a service that allows 24/7 online consultations with over 250 affiliated pediatricians, obstetricians, and midwives. The "Pediatrics Online" service, which began in 2016, has been adopted by over 230 local governments and has accumulated over 300,000 consultations.
In Minamata City, new support for parenting households was needed due to the closure of a local pediatric clinic. By providing an environment where residents can easily consult specialists online through our service, we aim to alleviate the burden of commuting to hospitals, feelings of isolation, and anxiety, thereby supporting safe pregnancies, childbirths, and childcare.
■ Background of Introducing "Obstetrics & Gynecology and Pediatrics Online"
Introduction of "Obstetrics & Gynecology and Pediatrics Online Consultation" to further enhance support tailored to life stages.
Minamata City is committed to providing support tailored to all pregnant women, mothers, children, and parenting households at various life stages, based on the "3rd Minamata City Child and Child-Rearing Support Business Plan."
In recent years, the city has enhanced childcare policies, including implementing prenatal and one-month-old infant health check-ups, postpartum care programs, and subsidies for transportation and accommodation expenses for pregnant women and others traveling to distant delivery facilities.
However, challenges remained, such as the increasing number of nuclear families and dual-income households, weakening family ties leading to a lack of accessible consultation for parenting anxieties, and limited specialized consultation locations and hours for pregnancy, childbirth, and childcare due to the closure of a local pediatric clinic. There was a strong demand for establishing a system that allows easy consultation at any time.
With the official introduction of our online health and medical consultation service, "Obstetrics & Gynecology and Pediatrics Online," a system will be in place for 24/7 online consultations with pediatricians, obstetricians, and midwives. By addressing health concerns during local government closures or outside medical facility hours, parenting worries, preconception care, pregnancy, infertility, menopause, and other unique concerns for women, we will collaborate with existing support provided by Minamata City to further contribute to pregnancy, childbirth, and childcare support.
■ About the "Obstetrics & Gynecology and Pediatrics Online" Service Available in Minamata City (Partial)
Minamata City residents can consult pediatricians, obstetricians, and midwives online for free.
Anytime Consultation
Text questions are accepted 24 hours a day, with text responses provided by doctors and midwives.
Night Consultation
LINE message chat and video calls are available on weekdays from 6 PM to 10 PM (10-minute reservation slots). Reservations can be made up to 15 minutes before the consultation starts.
Daytime Midwife Consultation
LINE message chat consultations with midwives are available without reservation on weekdays from 1 PM to 5 PM.
Search Everyone's Consultations
Past consultation content submitted to our company and responses from doctors/midwives can be searched and viewed as a set.
■ About Minamata City, Kumamoto Prefecture
Minamata City, located at the southernmost tip of Kumamoto Prefecture, is a scenic town blessed with seafood and mountain delicacies, and the terraced rice fields in the Samukawa area have been selected as one of "Japan's Top 100 Terraced Rice Fields."
Under the motto "Minamata: A vibrant town where everyone feels happy and smiles," the city's basic philosophy for childcare support is "Minamata: A town where everyone can safely give birth and raise children, and children who will bear the future can grow up happily in the community." The city is committed to sustainable community development through seamless support from pregnancy to childcare.
https://www.city.minamata.lg.jp/default.html
■ About Kids Public
Established in 2015 by pediatrician Naoya Hashimoto. In May 2016, "Pediatrics Online" was launched as an online remote health and medical consultation service. In 2017, obstetrician Daisuke Shigemi joined, and the following year, "Obstetrics & Gynecology Online" was launched. In 2023, "Daytime Midwife Consultation" began operations.
The cumulative number of consultations has exceeded 300,000, and a system has been established to allow online consultations with over 250 pediatricians, obstetricians, and midwives. The service offers a wide range of consultation options, including "Anytime Consultation" for 24/7 text consultations with medical professionals, "Night Consultation" for 10-minute video calls with medical professionals, and "Search Everyone's Consultations" which allows searching over 40,000 consultation cases and responses created by doctors and midwives. It has been adopted by over 230 local governments and is also focusing on demonstration experiments, effectiveness verification, and research through online consultations.
Utilizing ICT, from pregnancy to childcare.