Japan Press Weekly

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2007 October 17 - 23 [WELFARE]

Health Ministry kept undisclosed for 5 years information on identification of drug-induced hepatitis patients

The Health Ministry on October 22 announced that it has discovered in the ministry building a list of drug-induced hepatitis patients that contains the full names of two patients and initials of 116 patients.

In addition to this, former Mitsubishi Pharma Co., the drug company that produced the virus-tainted blood product, fibrinogen, has also retained a list of patients containing the full names of 197 patients as well as addresses of 40 patients, according to the ministry.

In 2002, the ministry received a report on 418 patients infected with hepatitis C from then Mitsubishi Pharma, but the ministry has insisted that there was no information to identify those patients.

The ministry apparently failed to take any measure to help those patients, although it was able to identify many of them.

“While being fully aware of the infection caused by the blood product, the state in the lawsuit expressed its doubt over the relation of cause and effect and even insisted that the plaintiffs must prove it. This is absolutely impermissible,” said Yamaguchi Michiko, the representative of plaintiffs in the lawsuit seeking compensation for the damage caused by the drug-induced hepatitis C.

She stressed that the state has a heavy responsibility for deliberately missing every opportunity to inform patients of their infections.

Japanese Communist Party Secretariat Head Ichida Tadayoshi at a press conference on the same day severely criticized the ministry, saying, “This is a grave problem because it shows that the government has made light of the life of patients.”

Referring to JCP House of Councilors member Koike Akira’s discussion five years ago in which Koike held the ministry responsible for the drug-induced disease, Ichida said, “Why has the ministry failed to make public the existence of the list for five years? It is necessary to make the truth fully known to the public.”

Ichida stressed that then health minister, Komei Party House of Representatives member Sakaguchi Chikara, was also responsible for this problem.

“The more time passes, the more hepatitis C becomes serious. There may be patients who died in the past five years because of the government failure to take necessary measures,” Ichida pointed out.

Ichida expressed his resolution to thoroughly investigate the question in the Diet, saying, “We must have the government fulfill its responsibility, including granting a subsidy for the medical costs of the patients.” - Akahata, October 23, 2007