A severe nurse shortage in disaster-hit prefectures is raising alarm among workers helping victims who lack proper medical care and are becoming increasingly isolated in their shattered communities.
A severe nurse shortage in disaster-hit prefectures is raising alarm among workers helping victims who lack proper medical care and are becoming increasingly isolated in their shattered communities.
An Asahi Shimbun survey, conducted from late May to early June on 42 municipalities in Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures, found eight had just one nurse per 1,000 or more residents. Seven of those municipalities were in Fukushima Prefecture.
The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare has asked local governments across the country to continue dispatching health workers to the disaster-stricken areas through August. But many emergency crews are already leaving, making it more difficult for health workers to reach residents who have been forced to relocate.
"We cannot afford to revisit some residents because we are preparing medical checkups for infants," said Terumi Endo, a nurse in the Oshika area of hard-hit Ishinomaki in Miyagi Prefecture.
Two local health nurses, with the support of nurses dispatched from Yatsushiro, Kumamoto Prefecture, completed a health survey of all households in the Oshika area. But the support team has since moved on, leaving the remaining nurses with the huge task of caring for residents in an area still struggling to rebuild.
The nurse shortage was the most serious in Okuma, Namie and Tomioka, all in Fukushima Prefecture, where one nurse was responsible for 3,000 or more residents, according to the survey. In Naraha and Futaba in the prefecture, the ratio was one nurse per 2,000 or more residents, while Hirono and Kawauchi each had one nurse for 1,000 or more residents.
In Minami-Soma, part of which lies in the no-entry zone around the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, there was one nurse for 999 people, according to the survey.
The only other municipality where one nurse took care of 1,000 or more people was Otsuchi, Iwate Prefecture.
The seven municipalities in Fukushima Prefecture said they are having problems tracking down residents whose addresses are now scattered within and outside the prefecture.
Local nurses, who are also victims of the disaster, say the shortage of workers makes it difficult to detect health problems among residents at an early stage.
In some areas, regular medical checkups are behind schedule.
One problem for Fukushima Prefecture is the disparity in outside support.
As of May 31, 14 support teams from other prefectures were working in Fukushima Prefecture, compared with 39 in Iwate Prefecture and 54 in Miyagi Prefecture (excluding Sendai).
Some evacuees' living conditions have improved since they were transferred to hotels and inns from evacuation centers, such as school gymnasiums. But nurses say the move has led to a collapse of communities and increased their sense of isolation.
"Communication does not take place since many people retreat to their rooms," said Sadako Kitago, a 65-year-old from Hirono, Fukushima Prefecture, who now lives at an inn in Iwaki. "Even in the large dining hall, everyone is quiet."
Although she said the inn provides her privacy and hot meals, which are largely unavailable at evacuation centers, the mood is depressing.
"Everyone is worried about when they can return home," Kitago said.
The town of Hirono, with a population of 5,400, is located within the voluntary evacuation zone around the nuclear plant.
As of the end of May, about 250 residents remained in the town, 1,300 had evacuated to 29 hotels and inns in four other cities and towns in the prefecture, and the others left Fukushima Prefecture.
Kayo Ishikura, a 49-year-old nurse dispatched from Tokyo's Itabashi Ward, found that Kitago's blood pressure was high in late May.
Although Kitago said she was "fine," Ishikura told her: "This is not a normal life. Please visit your doctor."
The town of Hirono itself has only three local nurses. Ishikura is part of a medical task force sent in late May from Tokyo to Hirono, but all the nurses generally travel to hotels and inns in Iwaki and the town of Ishikawa to see the residents.
"The dispersal (of residents) from evacuation centers is a most serious headache," said Toshiyuki Aoki, head of a residents heath-care group in Hirono. "I hope the support project will be prolonged."
But often the residents often won't meet the nurses, even if they visit their rooms.
"Living in private rooms leads to shutting oneself indoors and a reduction in ordinary activities," Ishikura said.
(This article was written by Kenichi Iwasaki, Takehiko Sato and Kayoko Geji.)