is a national sanatorium

Sanatorium

A sanatorium is a medical facility for long-term illness, most typically associated with treatment of tuberculosis before antibiotics...

 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...

 and ex-leprosy patients situated in Gotemba, Shizuoka, 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...

 since 1944.

History

After the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War (July 7, 1937- ), wounded soldiers became problematic, and Matsuki Miyazaki

Matsuki Miyazaki

was a Japanese medical doctor, the director of the Kyushu Sanatorium in Kumamoto, Japan. He studied war and leprosy and found that stress was a great factor in the development of leprosy. He later established a leprosy center belonging to Japan Leprosy Mission of Asia, in India...

 proposed in 1937 that those who develop 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...

, during military service, should be given sufficient treatment and pension in the same degree as those who develop tuberculosis

Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...

 during service. The following is a timeline of events:

• 1940: Treatment for leprosy in Japanese soldiers was approved.
• 1942: A sanatorium was planned and National Sanatorium Wounded Soldiers' Suruga Sanatorium was established on December 15, 1944.
• December 15, 1944: Suruga Wounded Soldiers' Sanatorium was opened.
• June 10, 1945: The first patient was hospitalized.
• December 1, 1945: It became National Suruga Sanatorium.
• April 1996: The 1953 Leprosy Prevention Law was abolished.
• July 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

The number of in-patients is the sum of patients which changed, not only by the newly diagnosed hospitalized and those who died among in-patients, but by other factors, such as the number of patients who escaped or were discharged, depending on the condition of the times. Recently they were encouraged to be discharged, but the long period of the segregation policy causing leprosy stigma might influence the number of those who went into the society.

Year	Number of in-patients
1945	44
1950	273
1955	436
1960	453
1965	373
1970	344
1975	306
1980	290
1985	251
1990	232
1995	214
1999	188

Year	Number of in-patients
2003	151
2004	141
2005	136
2006	127
2007	119
2008	112

Information concerning the sanatorium

• Site area: 364680 square metres (90.1 acre)
• Building area: 22241 square metre

External links

• Official website