Should doctor's in Japan be required to renew their licenses?

A doctor of neurology has an interesting editorial in today's Asahi, he argues:

Fears of a breakdown of the nation's health-care system are rising, with critics questioning the overall quality of medical services.

As someone in clinical practice with long experience working in both Japan and the United States, I wish to propose a system that would require doctors to renew their medical licenses on a regular basis.

Such a system would improve the quality of medical treatment through the efforts of doctors working at self-improvement.

In Japan, once a doctor graduates from medical school and passes a national qualifying examination, he or she is set to work for life. That is, unless one commits a serious transgression, such as misconduct that warrants administrative punishment. There is no requirement for doctors to renew their licenses.

Few countries allow such a state of affairs, especially among industrialized nations.

That's quite interesting. We all want good health care, and certainly I'm sure we would all prefer a doctor that is up to date in the latest techniques as opposed to one that isn't. However, if it's the case that there is a shortage of doctors in Japan, will this create yet another impediment?

If doctors are not already doing what is suggested above, I think we have to ask why? After all, if there were two doctors, one up to date and the other not, wouldn't we prefer the up to date one? So wouldn't he then make more money? Doe this not happen in Japan?

In general, I do think that private organizations can be created to handle these situations. There could be a private organization that issues its own seal of approval for different doctors depending on whether they qualify or not. Doctor's who have this seal of approval might be thought of as safer and thus be favored in the market place.

I think one possible impediment to the market solutions I am mentioning is national health care and centralization of authority. I guess this just reflects my own prejudices. Without investigating the matter more carefully I can only speculate.