Japan's health ministry has drawn up a plan to develop the country's medical care sector by tapping overseas resources, such as accepting foreign medical students.

The ministry announced steps for its vision for global health on Monday at a meeting of its international strategy headquarters headed by health minister Takemi Keizo.

The vision is designed to develop Japan's health care business into a growth industry.

It calls for starting a new pilot program to accept about 20 foreign students at medical schools in Japan by preparing a scholarship system. The step is aimed at nurturing health care personnel in Asian countries.

The vision also eyes the promotion of inbound medical services for overseas patients hoping to receive high-quality medical treatment and services in Japan.

It calls for improving a system to accept them by assigning interpreters and coordinators at medical institutions.

The ministry says it will also help Asian countries to adopt medical care systems modeled after Japan's.

To strengthen new drug development, the vision calls for creating domestic bases with medical functions in cooperation with overseas businesses. The ministry says it will also support drug development from the basic research stage.

The vision also plans to allow documents to be written entirely in English for the application for approval of overseas drugs in Japan to expedite their use.