Hiroshima Prefectural Medical Association plans health checkups of A-bomb survivors in North Korea
Apr. 19, 2010
by Sakiko Masuda, Staff Writer
It was learned on April 17 that the Hiroshima Prefectural Medical Association has been arranging its schedule to pursue a visit to North Korea to undertake health checkups of A-bomb survivors (hibakusha) residing in that nation this coming fall. If realized, this will be the first formal visit for health checkups in North Korea by doctors from the A-bombed city of Hiroshima. The visit may lead to progress in providing support for hibakusha in North Korea.
The association plans to send four or five specialists to North Korea from the middle to the end of September. These specialists will conduct health checkups of hibakusha at two or three sites, including the Kim Man Yu Hospital, a general hospital in Pyongyang. Around the same time, Shizuteru Usui, president of the association, is scheduled to visit North Korea in his capacity as the president of Japanese Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, and deliver medical books.
As Japan has no diplomatic relations with North Korea, relief measures by the Japanese government for hibakusha overseas have not been provided for those in North Korea. The Hiroshima International Council for Health Care of the Radiation-exposed (HICARE), which is formed by several entities, including Hiroshima Prefecture, has had no record of accepting doctors from North Korea for medical training.
Under these circumstances, the Hiroshima Prefectural Medical Association dispatched a group of doctors to North Korea in September 2008 and investigated the conditions of hibakusha in the nation. Though the association subsequently planned to send a team for health checkups in November 2009, the Japanese government tightened its sanctions against North Korea in response to North Korea's nuclear test in May of the same year. Exchange activities at the private-sector level then became difficult and the health checkups were postponed.
According to the Hiroshima Prefectural Medical Association, the number of hibakusha in North Korea was about 380 as of 2008. Makoto Matsumura, who is executive director of the association and in charge of health checkups for survivors overseas, commented, "Health checkups can be a starting point toward the next stage of support, including medical treatment of such hibakusha in Japan. Hibakusha are hibakusha, no matter where they reside. From a humanitarian perspective, we would like to extend support to hibakusha in North Korea, who have been left behind."
(Originally published on April 18, 2010)
It was learned on April 17 that the Hiroshima Prefectural Medical Association has been arranging its schedule to pursue a visit to North Korea to undertake health checkups of A-bomb survivors (hibakusha) residing in that nation this coming fall. If realized, this will be the first formal visit for health checkups in North Korea by doctors from the A-bombed city of Hiroshima. The visit may lead to progress in providing support for hibakusha in North Korea.
The association plans to send four or five specialists to North Korea from the middle to the end of September. These specialists will conduct health checkups of hibakusha at two or three sites, including the Kim Man Yu Hospital, a general hospital in Pyongyang. Around the same time, Shizuteru Usui, president of the association, is scheduled to visit North Korea in his capacity as the president of Japanese Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, and deliver medical books.
As Japan has no diplomatic relations with North Korea, relief measures by the Japanese government for hibakusha overseas have not been provided for those in North Korea. The Hiroshima International Council for Health Care of the Radiation-exposed (HICARE), which is formed by several entities, including Hiroshima Prefecture, has had no record of accepting doctors from North Korea for medical training.
Under these circumstances, the Hiroshima Prefectural Medical Association dispatched a group of doctors to North Korea in September 2008 and investigated the conditions of hibakusha in the nation. Though the association subsequently planned to send a team for health checkups in November 2009, the Japanese government tightened its sanctions against North Korea in response to North Korea's nuclear test in May of the same year. Exchange activities at the private-sector level then became difficult and the health checkups were postponed.
According to the Hiroshima Prefectural Medical Association, the number of hibakusha in North Korea was about 380 as of 2008. Makoto Matsumura, who is executive director of the association and in charge of health checkups for survivors overseas, commented, "Health checkups can be a starting point toward the next stage of support, including medical treatment of such hibakusha in Japan. Hibakusha are hibakusha, no matter where they reside. From a humanitarian perspective, we would like to extend support to hibakusha in North Korea, who have been left behind."
(Originally published on April 18, 2010)
