17th medical consultation program for A-bomb survivors in South America, 38 participants in Brazil
Nov. 7, 2014
by Yota Baba, Staff Writer
Sao Paulo – A team of doctors from Hiroshima Prefecture offered medical consultations for A-bomb survivors at a hospital in Sao Paolo, Brazil on October 20. Sao Paolo is the first city in this program, which covers five South American nations. Thirty-eight local residents in their 70s to 90s sought advice from doctors.
Each of the four doctors dispatched by Hiroshima Prefectural government teamed up with a Japanese Brazilian doctor and met with survivors. Showing results of blood tests and electrocardiogram records, which were prepared beforehand, doctors prescribed medication in line with their symptoms or suggested seeing specialists. Kazuichi Yamane, 88, is originally from Hiroshima. He said, “There’s something wrong with my throat, and I have difficulty swallowing food.” He was pleased that he was given helpful advice in Japanese.
Employees of the municipal and prefectural governments of Hiroshima are accompanying the doctors. They gave explanations about relief measures for survivors, including subsidies for medical expenses. Survivors requested that the application procedures be simplified and a system be created for them to receive free medical treatment in Brazil.
Shuzo Toyota, the head of the team and the vice president of the Hiroshima Prefectural Medical Association, said, “Many of the survivors are worried about diabetes and cancer. I am concerned about differences in the standards of medical care in each region.”
The team of doctors will divide into three groups and visit a total of eight cities in Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Peru, and Bolivia, before returning to Japan on November 1. This is the 17th medical team that has been dispatched to South America.
(Originally published on October 22, 2014)
Sao Paulo – A team of doctors from Hiroshima Prefecture offered medical consultations for A-bomb survivors at a hospital in Sao Paolo, Brazil on October 20. Sao Paolo is the first city in this program, which covers five South American nations. Thirty-eight local residents in their 70s to 90s sought advice from doctors.
Each of the four doctors dispatched by Hiroshima Prefectural government teamed up with a Japanese Brazilian doctor and met with survivors. Showing results of blood tests and electrocardiogram records, which were prepared beforehand, doctors prescribed medication in line with their symptoms or suggested seeing specialists. Kazuichi Yamane, 88, is originally from Hiroshima. He said, “There’s something wrong with my throat, and I have difficulty swallowing food.” He was pleased that he was given helpful advice in Japanese.
Employees of the municipal and prefectural governments of Hiroshima are accompanying the doctors. They gave explanations about relief measures for survivors, including subsidies for medical expenses. Survivors requested that the application procedures be simplified and a system be created for them to receive free medical treatment in Brazil.
Shuzo Toyota, the head of the team and the vice president of the Hiroshima Prefectural Medical Association, said, “Many of the survivors are worried about diabetes and cancer. I am concerned about differences in the standards of medical care in each region.”
The team of doctors will divide into three groups and visit a total of eight cities in Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Peru, and Bolivia, before returning to Japan on November 1. This is the 17th medical team that has been dispatched to South America.
(Originally published on October 22, 2014)
