Drawing on the lessons learned from the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami of 2011, which also brought about the nuclear meltdown in Fukushima, the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) has come up with a proposal and plan to upgrade the hospitals’ medical framework. This will allow them to properly deal with potential disasteremergencies, particularly of the nuclear kind.
Part of this plan is to have the hospitals be capable of treating a large number of patients and designating certain ones to handle treatment of patients with serious radiation exposure. The NRA will be setting up a panel of experts who will work out the details and come up with a comprehensive plan by March of next year. The proposal includes expanding the roles of those hospitals that are currently designated for emergency medical services. The medical personnel will be trained and equipped to conduct radiation contamination checks and also treat those who are suffering from minor cases of exposure. |
