Evacuated dialysis patients get treatment in Tokyo; removal further west considered
Hundreds of dialysis patients from the Fukushima Prefecture city of Iwaki and its neighboring areas -- which have been hit hard by a quake, tsunami, and nuclear power plant crisis -- have been evacuated to Tokyo to continue their medical treatment.
Dialysis patients run the risk of death when they go without treatment for a week. Because of a lack of water and medication needed for dialysis as well as the gas needed to travel to and from treatment centers in their home towns, some 410 people were transported to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government building on March 17, where they waited to be told where they would stay and where they may go next.
The northernmost part of Iwaki falls within the 30-kilometer radius range from the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant, where the government has told residents to stay indoors. Of the patients that were transported to Tokyo, approximately 40 are from Iwaki's neighbor Tomioka, which falls within the government-mandated 20-kilometer evacuation zone around the nuclear plant. Some fled their homes the morning after the quake with just the clothes on their backs.
The exodus was coordinated by a dialysis treatment network which secured receiving medical facilities in Tokyo. The Fukushima Prefectural Government prepared bus transportation, and medical staff accompanied patients on the bus ride. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government arranged for patients and their families to stay in three locations within the city.
Katsuko Sakai, 76, who arrived in Tokyo alone from Iwaki, said that she used to receive dialysis three times a week, but that she had only been able to receive one treatment since the earthquake. When seeing her off, her daughter said that the rest of the family would follow soon enough, but Sakai remains concerned for her family back in Iwaki.
An 85-year-old dialysis patient, also an Iwaki resident, said that his wife was staying with relatives in Iwaki: "I hope that medicine and other supplies are delivered to Iwaki soon." Some of his relatives went missing in the tsunami.
"Because our city has a nuclear power plant, many of the residents work for related companies. Who would've known that such a big accident would happen," said Naoto Yoshida, 48, a doctor who accompanied a group of patients from Tomioka. "There are patients still in Iwaki who have no gas and are unable to get to hospitals. We can't just leave them to die."
In addition to facilities in Tokyo, a hospital in Chiba Prefecture had accepted 33 patients from Iwaki as of March 17, according to the Japanese Association of Dialysis Physicians (JADP). Medical facilities in Toyama, Niigata and Yamagata prefectures are also slated to accept dialysis patients. Stumbling blocks remain, however.
"We've transferred patients to Tokyo as an emergency measure, but eastern Japan (including Tokyo) still has the problem of planned blackouts," said the JADP's Hiroaki Sugisaki. "We want to evacuate the patients to Aichi Prefecture or further west, where there is enough electricity."
Click here for the original Japanese story
http://mainichi.jp/select/weathernews/20110311/news/20110318k0000e040055000c.htmlPHOTO: Dialysis patients and their families from Fukushima Prefecture are pictured at the Tokyo Metropolitan Government building on March 17. (Mainichi)
(Mainichi Japan) March 19, 2011
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20110319p2a00m0na007000c.html
I Hate Dialysis Message Board
Author
