ID :
305349
Sat, 11/02/2013 - 11:45
Auther :

Japan to Up Medical Subsidies for A-Bomb Victims Abroad

Tokyo, Nov. 1 (Jiji Press)--The Japanese government will strengthen measures to support hibakusha, or surviving victims of the 1945 atomic bombing of Japan, who are living abroad, Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Norihisa Tamura said at a press conference Friday. His comment apparently showed the government's readiness to raise the ceiling on medical subsidies for overseas hibakusha. Tamura's suggestion came after Osaka District Court on Oct. 24 ruled that Osaka Prefecture's refusal to cover medical expenses for hibakusha living abroad in accordance with the nation's atomic bomb victim relief law was illegal. Hibakusha living abroad are eligible for financial aid under the law when they are in Japan but ineligible while outside the country. Noting that the Japanese government allows victims living in Japan to be covered by the law when they receive medical treatment abroad, the western Japan court said in the ruling the law should be interpreted as not excluding hibakusha living overseas who consult medical institutions outside Japan. The United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, western Japan, on Aug. 6, 1945, in the closing days of World War II and another on the southwestern city of Nagasaki three days later, making Japan the only country in the world attacked with nuclear weapons. As of March this year, there were about 4,400 overseas hibakusha. They are not eligible for aid under the relief law, but are allowed to receive up to 180,000 yen in medical subsidies a year per person under a different support program launched by the Japanese government in fiscal 2004. Tamura's press conference remark Friday signaled a possible hike in the subsidy ceiling. The government is considering ways to satisfy all overseas hibakusha and hopes to offer a certain direction by the end of this year, the minister said. END

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