The health ministry will electronically preserve medical records of victims of the Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult's 1995 sarin nerve gas attack on Tokyo's subway system, starting from April at the earliest.
The ministry will also interview medical professionals who treated the victims, before they become too old, and compile oral records.
"It's important to pass records (from the attack) on to coming generations," a ministry official said, adding that such records will be used to reinforce measures against biochemical terrorism.
The project was born after a study group set up by the ministry in 2019 concluded that sarin poisoning treatment records are "precious historical and intellectual property" and that "it is extremely important to preserve, sort and use them."
According to a survey by the group, headed by Tetsu Okumura, director of the Japan Poison Information Center, that covered 39 medical institutions believed to have engaged in treating the victims, only six of 14 responding institutions are keeping treatment records.
Many other institutions may have disposed of sarin attack-related records after the mandatory five-year record preservation period ended, people familiar with the matter said.
The ministry has earmarked some ¥4.4 million for digitizing paper-based medical records of the victims while taking privacy protection steps. It also plans to publish interviews with medical professionals on what they did during the incident.
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