Photo/Illutration Katsuhiko Yamada, center, and other lawmakers from the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan hold a news conference on Jan. 28 after meeting with a detainee at the Omura Immigration Center in Omura, Nagasaki Prefecture, and the chief of the facility. (Mizuki Enomoto)

OMURA, Nagasaki Prefecture--Opposition lawmakers are urging a local immigration facility to allow a Nepalese detainee access to surgery as soon as possible for an injury he sustained there.

The man claims that he became bedridden due to being denied access to medical treatment by the facility.

Three lawmakers from the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan--Lower House members Sayuri Kamata and Katsuhiko Yamada, as well as Upper House member Taiga Ishikawa--visited the Omura Immigration Center on Jan. 28 to make the request.

The detainee, 39, injured his left leg when he was playing soccer on the grounds of the immigration center in April 2019. About four months later, he was allowed to visit an outside medical institution and was diagnosed with idiopathic osteonecrosis of the femoral head.

The man has difficulty walking and suffers from a urinary disorder and insomnia, according to his lawyer.

The detainee filed a lawsuit with the Nagasaki District Court seeking compensation from the government.

After meeting with the detainee and the head of the center on Jan. 28, the three lawmakers held a joint news conference with the man’s supporters. The lawmakers said the center refused to recognize his need for surgery as it makes a case against the necessity in court. 

Yamada questioned whether detention facilities are thoroughly implementing measures to improve the treatment of detainees.

The Immigration Services Agency had compiled the new measures following the death of a Sri Lankan woman while in detention in Nagoya.

Kamata said she intends to take up the issue at a Lower House Judicial Affairs Committee meeting.

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