Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Chikara Sakaguchi signed a final agreement with former Hansen's disease patients and relatives of deceased sufferers Monday to settle a damages suit over the government's past quarantine policy.
The out-of-court settlement calls on the government to pay up to 7 million yen in compensation to each of the 16 former patients and a maximum 14 million yen to each of the families of 72 deceased patients.
The settlement is expected to be officially reached at the Kumamoto District Court on Wednesday following Monday's signing of the agreement. It was signed at a ceremony at the ministry at which Sakaguchi and Kazumi Sogano, 74, representing the plaintiffs, shook hands.