Kanagawa Prefecture holds first meeting considering measures to address medical issues at sister facility to ‘Sagamihara Massacre’ care home

By Barrier Free Japan with extracts from The Sankei Shimbun via Yahoo! Japan

December 18 2024

KANAGAWA – The first meeting of the “Medical and Health Management Issues Reform Committee,” which will consider measures to address high health risks for residents of ‘Nakai Yamayuri En’ (Nakai Town), a prefectural facility for the intellectually disabled, was held on the 18th at the prefectural office in Naka Ward, Yokohama. 

‘Nakai Yamayuri En’ is ran by the same company that manages the ‘Tsukui Yamayuri En’ care facility where, in the early hours of July 26th 2016, a former employee broke in and killed 19 residents between the ages of 19 and 70 with a knife, injuring 26 others.

As investigations into cases of abuse of residents at the facility progress, issues such as residents not receiving appropriate medical care have emerged. At the beginning of the meeting, Governor Yuji Kuroiwa said, “A new issue of medical gaps has come to light. We would like to position this as part of the reform of Nakai Yamayuri En.”

The discussion was held in private, and according to the prefecture and other sources, 10 cases of men and women were reported. There were cases where people were diagnosed with cataracts but were not given adequate treatment, leading to blindness, and cases where people at a young age were losing weight and suffering from anemia but were not given any treatment.

The committee plans to investigate the cause and consider countermeasures, and prepare an interim report by the end of the fiscal year.