Photo/Illutration Chiyoko Iwanaga, a plaintiff in a group lawsuit seeking the medical benefits provided to atomic bomb survivors, shows a picture depicting the experience of surviving the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, at a news conference on Aug. 9. (Mizuki Enomoto)

NAGASAKI--People who experienced the atomic bombing of this city but were denied full state health care benefits bristled at the government’s plan to expand a medical relief program for them.

They say it falls short because it does not recognize them as survivors and grant them full health coverage.

Chiyoko Iwanaga, one of the plaintiffs of a group lawsuit demanding the government recognize her and other plaintiffs as atomic bomb survivors, expressed deep disappointment over the relief plan for victims in Nagasaki.

She said continuing to leave some out in the cold without full medical benefits amounts to playing one group off the other, since their Hiroshima counterparts have been granted those benefits.

“I was stunned,” Iwanaga, 86, said at a news conference following the announcement. “I was left speechless as the message came from the prime minister, who represents a constituency in Hiroshima. The government is trying to divide victims in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.”

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced the plan on Aug. 9, during his visit here to attend the ceremony marking the anniversary of the 1945 atomic bombing of Nagasaki.

Kishida said the government is considering covering their medical care costs for treatment of some types of cancer starting in April under the broadened relief program.

In Nagasaki, public assistance is only available to those who were in the designated “atomic-bombed area,” a zone around ground zero measuring about 12 kilometers north to south and about 7 km east to west. Those people are officially recognized as hibakusha from when the bomb was dropped. The demarcation is based on administrative districts from the time.

But those who were outside the zone, despite being within a radius of 12 km from the hypocenter, were instead designated as “people who experienced the atomic bombing,” and were denied full public aid as atomic bomb survivors.

Succeeding governments have not recognized their health problems as being related to the bombing, and concluded they were not directly affected by radiation.

Their access to public benefits is limited to treatment for psychiatric problems stemming from their atomic bomb experiences and certain other complications.

As of the end of March, 5,097 people were eligible for this relief program in Nagasaki Prefecture.

Kishida’s announcement means they can now receive medical support when they receive treatment for some kinds of cancer.

But the planned expansion of the program fell far short of what four groups of atomic bomb victims in Nagasaki demanded and expected, particularly after the Hiroshima High Court’s landmark ruling in July last year.

The court widened the extent of support to people who were exposed to radioactive “black rain,” even if they were outside the government-designated relief zone in Hiroshima at the time of the bombing on Aug. 6, 1945.

Kishida’ predecessor, Yoshihide Suga, set a policy after the ruling to offer redress to people in similar circumstances regardless of whether they were plaintiffs in the lawsuit. But the government did not extend that to people affected by the Nagasaki bombing who were not officially recognized as hibakusha.

Hibakusha groups have long called for expanding the scope of eligibility and renewed that call this week.

Koichi Kawano, 82, chairman of the Liaison Council of Hibakusha, Nagasaki Peace Movement Center, said the planned relief program is not enough.

“It may be a step forward, but the government should recognize them as hibakusha to fundamentally resolve the issue,” said Kawano.

(This article was compiled from reports by Mirei Jinguji, Masato Tainaka and Mizuki Enomoto.)

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