The great east Japan earthquake and radiation exposure problem in Fukushima

Described are actions taken by Fukushima Medical University (FMU) and its Department of Orthopedic Surgery (DOS) after the Quake Disaster (Mar. 11, 2011), and present state, at about 1 year later, of Fukushima Prefecture suffering from the Fukushima Daiichi Power Plant (FDPP) radiation problem. Firstly described are the roles played by FMU as a backup medical supporting facility and by DOS therein according to the following time frame. During several days after the Quake, 35 DMAT (Disaster Medical Assistant Team) consisting from 180 professionals gathered in FMU. The number of emergent outpatients within 3 days after the quake was 168, and 10 patients involving 4 with trauma underwent 11 operations by DOS. Within the next 1 week after, FMU tentatively received 175 patients transported from evacuation area localizing at 30 km distance from FDPP. At later than 2 weeks after, FMU re-started the routine medicare of outpatients in its all departments (Mar. 28), when high grade DMAT and local family medicare team started to visit refuges and isolated patients, respectively. Numbers of patients with the disaster-related trauma needed for hospitalization in 3 DOS related facilities having >1,000 beds in the Prefecture were 18-38, 10-25, 5-9 and 3-8, in the order of respective months from March to June. Second, FMU activities against radiation exposure started with visit of 4 possibly exposed residents on Mar. 12, with voluntary cooperation of many medical students. Medical training held in Sep. 2010 was quite useful for the rapid action of FMU to the Disaster, which made personnel recognize the importance of such education. Problems of external and internal exposure of low dose radiation are the future task, for which follow-up of health survey of 2,020 thousands Prefectural residents is to be continued for >30 years onward. At present, restoration of medicare seems difficult to recover to the level before the Disaster as exemplified by the decrease of hospital doctors from 2,013 (Mar. 1) to 1,942 (Dec. 1), which is especially typical around FDPP areas. Formation of medical network system to cooperate more closely with each other inside/outside of the prefecture, and education/enlightening of residents against disaster at peacetime are thought important. (T.T.)