Okinawa Airakuen Sanatorium - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Okinawa Airakuen Sanatorium, (National Sanatorium Okinawa Airakuen) is a sanatorium for leprosy

Leprosy

Leprosy or Hansen's disease is a chronic disease caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium leprae and Mycobacterium lepromatosis. Named after physician Gerhard Armauer Hansen, leprosy is primarily a granulomatous disease of the peripheral nerves and mucosa of the upper respiratory tract; skin lesions...

patients or ex-leprosy patients at Sumuide, Nago

Nago, Okinawa

is a city located in the northern part of Okinawa Island, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. As of 2008, the city has an estimated population of 60,598 and the density of 288 persons per km². The total area is 210.30 km². The city was founded on August 1, 1970, and hosted the G-8 Summit in 2000.-...

, Okinawa

Okinawa Prefecture

is one of Japan's southern prefectures. It consists of hundreds of the Ryukyu Islands in a chain over long, which extends southwest from Kyūshū to Taiwan. Okinawa's capital, Naha, is located in the southern part of Okinawa Island...

, Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

starting in 1938.

major changes

Nov 10, 1938: Okinawa Prefectural Kunigami Airakuen Sanatorium opened.
Apr 1, 1941: National Kunigami Airakuen Sanatorium.
Apr 25, 1946: Under American Military Government.
Apr 1, 1952: Ryukyu Government Kungami Airakuen.
Aug 26, 1961: Hansen's disease prevention law of Okinawa promulgated.
May 15, 1972: Okinawa returned to Japan. "National Sanatorium Okinawa Airakuen"
Apr 1, 1996: The previous leprosy prevention law was abandoned.

Sanatorium and the war

In Sept 1944, they digged many air-raid shelters, which were named Hayata Goh(air-raid shelter) later.
400 new leprosy patients were hospitalized by the Japanese army in September 1944, to a total of 913 patients. Food and housing conditions were miserable.
April 1, 1945, American army landed at Chatan.
April 10, 1945, Director Hiroshi Hayata allowed patients to leave the sanatorium.
April 21, the Sanatorium was occupied after hand-to-hand fighting.
May 4, the Sanatorium was formally occupied.

After the war

August 1945, the director of the army hospital visited the Sanatorium.
March 8, 1946, the "Yagaji Sanatorium", meaning the sanatorium on the Yagaji Island, became the restricted area.
In 1949, Dr.V.Scorebrand visited the Sanatorium, and tried to use promin.
In July, 1953, Dr.Doull visited Okinawa for two months and reported various recommendations concerning leprosy.
In March 1951, Okinawa "Save-Leprosy Patient" Association started.
In Febr 1954, the Jichi-kai(Patients' association) of the Airakuen started "Tomonokai", an association for those who were discharged from the Airakuen and Miyako Nanseien.
In Feb 1960, an outpatient clinic started in Naha City. Similar clinics were built later in Ishigaki
Ishigaki
*Ishigaki Island*Ishigaki, Okinawa*Ishigaki Airport*Japanese escort Ishigaki*Ai Ishigaki , guitarist for The Mad Capsule Markets*Ishigaki Rin...

-jima and Miyako
Miyako
-Places in Japan:*Miyako, Iwate, a city in Iwate Prefecture*The Miyako Islands, including Miyako Island itself**Miyakojima, Okinawa, a city of the Miyako Islands**Miyako language, the Ryukyuan dialect spoken on Miyako Island and other nearby islands...

-jima.
In March 1957, the Japanese Government started to send leprosy specialists to two Okinawan sanatoriums.
In 1967, Okinawan schoolchildren surveys were started.
Apr 1996:The 1953 Leprosy Prevention Law was abolished.
Jul 1998: The trial for compensation started.
May 11, 2001: The trial for compensation ruled that the previous Leprosy Prevention was unconstitutional.
May 25, 2001: The trial for compensation was confirmed. The compensation of 8,000,000 yen to 14,000,000 yen was given to patients depending on the duration of unconstitutional periods.

Number of In-Patients

Year	Number of In-patients
1945	657
1950	881
1955	909
1960	936
1965	755
1970	670
1975	655
1980	697
1985	641
1990	583
1995	539
1999	472

Year	Number of In-patients
2003	355
2004	341
2005	326
2006	309
2007	291
2008	276

External links

Airakuen Sanatorium HP, in Japanese

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