Photo/Illutration The Tetsu Nakamura memorial leprosy center opens in eastern Afghanistan. (Provided by PMS/Peshawar-kai)

Six years after Tetsu Nakamura was slain in Afghanistan, the doctor's mission to heal lives has been revived with the restarting of leprosy care—the work that first defined his humanitarian legacy.

Dec. 4 will mark the sixth anniversary of the death of Nakamura, who devoted his life to humanitarian aid in Afghanistan. He was gunned down in an ambush at the age of 73, which also claimed the lives of four security guards and his driver.

Ahead of the anniversary, leprosy treatment—considered the “starting point” of his activities—has resumed locally.

Under the motto, “Continue all of Dr. Nakamura’s projects and carry forward all hopes,” his colleagues have launched medical services for the first time in 15 years.

On Nov. 1, the Tetsu Nakamura memorial leprosy center opened in Jalalabad, eastern Afghanistan.

A large three-story private house was renovated to include treatment rooms and wards with five beds each for men and women.

The center is operated by the nongovernmental group Peshawar-kai, based in Fukuoka, and Peace Japan Medical Services (PMS), the local organization founded by Nakamura.

Two doctors, three nurses and a total of 19 local staff members provide care.

The center’s name was chosen unanimously by the staff.

“Patients’ lives are in your hands,” said Chiyoko Fujita, 66, head of the PMS support office and a nurse who oversaw preparations, told the staff before the opening. Everyone nodded in agreement.

In 1984, Nakamura was assigned to a hospital in Peshawar, northwestern Pakistan, where he was in charge of the leprosy ward.

According to Fujita and others who later joined the treatment efforts, leprosy patients from Afghanistan’s mountainous regions—where there were no doctors—began crossing the border one after another to visit the hospital.

Troubled by the difficulties of their long journeys, Nakamura opened clinics in the mountains during the 1990s.

However, due to worsening security situation, leprosy treatment ceased in 2010.

Meanwhile, faced with patients dying from hunger and infections during a severe drought in 2000, Nakamura launched the Green Ground Project in 2003 to irrigate the parched land by channeling river water.

He focused on irrigation projects thereafter.

Even shortly before being fatally shot in 2019, Nakamura reportedly said, “We must build a leprosy center.”

Since his death, Peshawar-kai and PMS have continued building irrigation canals and providing medical services locally.

With the security situation improving in recent years and a request from the provincial government, they decided to open the center.

However, newly hired staff lack expertise in leprosy care and are currently undergoing training.

Plans include starting mobile clinics and admitting inpatients.

Leprosy can be completely cured without aftereffects through early treatment with specific drugs, but many people locally are unaware they have the disease or remain untreated.

Islamic customs, where women do not expose their skin to male doctors, pose unique challenges for early detection.

“We will focus on training female nurses and firmly pass on our skills,” said Fujita.

Masaru Murakami, 76, general director of PMS and a physician, said, “For six years, we’ve been working under uncertainty, but now we can finally proceed with treatment. With Nakamura’s will—‘to sustain life’ and ‘keep this light alive’—we want to move forward.”

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