Okinawa Airakuen Sanatorium

National Sanatorium Okinawa Airakuen
Geography
Location	1192 Sumuide, Nago, Okinawa, Japan
Organisation
Care system	HealthCare of those who had leprosy
Hospital type	National hospital run by Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (Japan)
Services
Beds	423 (Japanese health and medical law) and 309 (in-patients)
History
Founded	1938
Links
Website	http://www.hosp.go.jp/~airakuen/
Lists	Hospitals in Japan

Okinawa Airakuen Sanatorium, (National Sanatorium Okinawa Airakuen) is a sanatorium for leprosy patients or ex-leprosy patients at Sumuide, Nago, Okinawa, Japan starting in 1938.

History

History before the sanatorium

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 dug 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, for a total of 913 patients. Food and housing conditions were miserable.
• April 1, 1945, the 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 -jima and Miyako -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 patients

Year [1]	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 [2]	Number of in-patients
2003	355
2004	341
2005	326
2006	309
2007	291
2008	276

Notes

1. Fukken eno Jitsugetsu (2001) Koyo Shuppansha Tokyo　p.374
2. 2009,1,5

References

• The transitions of the leprosy policy (1999) Kazuo Saikawa, Okinawa Leprosy Prevention Association. in Japanese.

External links

• Airakuen Sanatorium HP, in Japanese

Coordinates: 26°40′34.2″N 128°01′08.3″E / 26.676167°N 128.018972°E