(つかう)

to use

(くすり)

medicine

(やっきょく)

pharmacy

(かえす)

to return (something); to give back

(とりくみ)

efforts, initiatives

(びょういん)

hospital

(のむ)

to drink

(いえ)

house

(のこる)

to remain / to stay behind

(ざんやく)

leftover medicine

(いう)

to say

(くに)

country; the government

(ちょうさ)

investigation; survey

(りょう)

Quantity; amount; volume

(いちねん)

one year

(すうひゃくおくえんぶん)

worth several tens of billions of yen

(なる)

to become

(かんがえる)

to think; to consider

(わすれる)

to forget

(しょうじょう)

symptoms

(よい)

good

(とちゅう)

on the way; midway; partway

(やめる)

to stop; to quit

(おもな)

main; principal

(げんいん)

cause / reason

(そこで)

and so, therefore

(いくつか)

several, a few

(ちいき)

region; area

(かんじゃ)

patient

(もつ)

to have; to hold

(ひ)

day

(きめる)

to decide

(やくざいし)

pharmacist

(なかみ)

Contents; inside

(きげん)

time limit, deadline, expiry date

(たしかめる)

to make sure; to confirm

(まだ)

still; yet

(つぎ)

next

(もらう)

to receive

(ぶん)

portion; share; amount

(へらす)

to reduce; to decrease

(むずかしい)

difficult

(のこす)

to leave behind, to leave uneaten

(ひと)

person / people

(かいすう)

number of times, frequency

(すくない)

few, scarce

(ほうほう)

method; way

(そうだん)

consultation; discussion

(たんとうしゃ)

person in charge

(すてる)

to throw away; to discard

(もったいない)

wasteful; too good to waste

(からだ)

body

(はなす)

to speak, talk

(いりょうひ)

medical costs

(おさえる)

to hold down; to curb

(つながる)

to be connected, to link up

even though / despite ~

Expresses contrast or unexpected result. Iran says they were attacked even though they are not at war.

while still not doing / left undone

The plain negative plus まま describes a state that stays unchanged. 飲まないまま家に残っている means the medicine stays at home in an untaken state.

is doing, has been doing (ongoing state/action)

Expresses a continuing action or resulting state. Formed with て-form + いる. Can describe an action in progress or a state resulting from a past change.

according to ...

Cites a source of information. The noun before によると is the source. Often followed by a reported statement.

passive voice: was/were ~ed

Passive form indicating that the subject receives the action. '食べられて' means 'were eaten'. Central grammar of this article about tulips being eaten by deer.

doing things like A and B

Lists example actions.

to become (い-adjective)

Expresses a change of state for い-adjectives. Drop the final い and add くなる. Indicates something has changed or will change to a new state.

come toward (action approaching)

Indicates motion toward the speaker or a location. Here it describes rocks flying toward people.

if it is ~ / in the case of ~

Noun + なら picks up a topic and states what is true in that case: with online care (as opposed to visiting), you need no train or bus.

can do ..., to be able to ...

Verb dictionary form + ことができる expresses ability or possibility. More formal than the potential verb form. Common in written Japanese and announcements.

way of doing

Attached to verb stem to mean 'way of doing'. '力の入れ方' means 'way of applying force'.

completely / finish ~ing (often regretful)

Expresses completion, often with regret or unexpectedness. Here the rice sold out quickly.

To make ~ (adjective)

い-adjective stem + くする means 'to make something (adjective).' 安くする means 'to make cheaper.'

conditional: if ~

Ba-form conditional expressing 'if ~ then ~'.

使わない薬を薬局に返す取り組み

An initiative to return unused medicine to pharmacies

病院でもらったのに飲まないまま家に残っている薬を、「残薬」と言います。

Medicine that people received at the hospital but never took, and that is left sitting at home, is called "zanyaku" (leftover medicine).

国の調査によると、その量は一年で数百億円分にもなると考えられています。

According to a national survey, that amount is thought to reach several tens of billions of yen worth in a single year.

飲み忘れたり、症状が良くなって途中でやめたりすることが主な原因です。

The main causes are forgetting to take the medicine, or stopping partway because the symptoms have improved.

そこで、いくつかの地域の薬局では、患者が使わなかった薬を持ってくる日を決めました。

So pharmacies in several regions have set a day on which patients bring in the medicine they did not use.

薬剤師が中身と期限を確かめて、まだ使える薬なら、次にもらう分を減らすことができます。

A pharmacist checks the contents and the expiry date, and if the medicine can still be used, the amount dispensed next time can be reduced.

薬の飲み方が難しくて残してしまう人には、飲む回数を少なくする方法も相談します。

For people who end up with medicine left over because the way of taking it is complicated, the pharmacy also discusses ways to reduce the number of doses.

薬局の担当者は「薬を捨てるのはもったいないだけでなく、患者の体にも良くありません」と話しています。

A pharmacy representative says, "Throwing medicine away is not only wasteful, it is also bad for the patient's body."

残薬を減らせば、医療費を抑えることにもつながりそうです。

If leftover medicine is reduced, it also looks likely to help hold down medical costs.