Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Chikara Sakaguchi said Wednesday the government has decided to accept a district court proposal to compensate former Hansen's disease patients who were not forced into sanitariums and the relatives of such patients who have died.
Sakaguchi told reporters in Sapporo that he will formally inform the Kumamoto District Court of the government's acceptance of its proposal and reach a compromise with the plaintiffs.
The district court proposed that the government pay from 5 million yen to 7 million yen in damages to each of 16 former patients who were not quarantined and from 5.5 million yen to 14 million yen to the families of 72 deceased patients. The total damages the government will pay is expected to reach about 1 billion yen, sources said.