Difficult to go back without hospitals

September 4, 2015

Lack of hospitals near Fukushima plant an obstacle to returnees

http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20150904p2a00m0na016000c.html

The town of Naraha near the disaster-hit Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant is set to have its evacuation order lifted on Sept. 5, but as with other municipalities in the Futaba district, a lack of hospital access may stand in the way of residents returning.

Before the nuclear disaster, the population of the Futaba district -- which consists of Naraha and four other municipalities under complete evacuation order, as well as the partially evacuated Kawauchi, and Hirono -- was around 72,800. Currently the population is less than 10 percent of that. Before the disaster, there were a total of 54 hospitals and clinics in the Futaba district, including three hospitals capable of accepting emergency patients with serious injuries or diseases, referred to as "secondary emergency hospitals." Currently there are only a total of five hospitals and clinics, and none are capable of handling serious cases.

According to the Futaba Fire Department, in 2010 there were 2,454 people sent to local hospitals from the Futaba district, but only 396 people sent in 2014. However, the number of residents and decontamination workers is increasing, and the department expects the number of people sent to local hospitals in 2015 to exceed 500.

In 2010, 63 percent of emergency patients were sent to facilities within the Futaba district, but in 2014, such cases only represented 23 percent, with the rest being sent to other places like the cities of Iwaki and Koriyama.

The average time from an ambulance call to the ambulance arriving at a hospital with the patient was 36.8 minutes in 2010, and in 2014 it was 55.8 minutes. This time was 12.2 minutes longer than the preliminary 2014 prefectural average of 43.6 minutes, and it was 16.5 minutes longer than the 2013 national average of 39.3 minutes.

Hitoshi Onita, vice-chief of the Futaba Fire Department, said, "This could cost lives in emergency medical cases, where every minute and every second count," adding, "It is a source of concern that there are no well-equipped hospitals nearby." The department plans to gradually boost paramedic figures, increasing the number of ambulances with a paramedic onboard from one to two, to help alleviate the situation.

According to the Fukushima Prefectural Government and other sources, a new prefectural clinic with a fulltime doctor is due to open in Naraha in February next year, and clinics are expected to gradually increase in number as people return to the area.

However, a representative for the prefecture's regional health department says, "As long as we can't predict where residents will return and their number, it is difficult to decide when and where to set up hospitals."

A meeting to discuss the matter between the national and prefectural governments and the municipal governments of the Futaba district will be held for the first time on Sept. 7.

One 75-year-old housewife who evacuated from Naraha to Iwaki says that she does not plan to return to her house in Naraha for the time being. In winter of 2010 she became dizzy and fell while shopping and was transported to a now-closed prefectural hospital in the town of Okuma. She says that she nearly had a clogged blood vessel in her brain.

"If there isn't a trustworthy hospital nearby for an emergency situation, it will be difficult to go back," she says.