Hansen's disease patients to get compensation

By Kim Jae-won

Some 4,000 patients suffering from Hansen’s disease will receive compensation for abuses such as confinement, assault and forced labor meted out against them by society including government agencies, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said Friday.

The ministry said the Hansen’s Patients Oppressions Truth Commission will pay 150,000 won per month to the patients who were abused after the country was freed from the Japanese colonial rule in 1945.

“We decided to offer compensation to the patients, seeking to restore their dignity. We will also pay medical costs to those who have long been discriminated against in society,” said Choi Seung-hoon, an official of the ministry.

However, the ministry said that there is no compensation for family members of Hansen’s disease patients who were killed by the authorities because the compensation is intended to restore the dignity of the patients who are still alive.

According to the ministry, discrimination against Hansen’s disease patients was rampant in the past. In 1945, 84 patients of the disease were killed by officials of a state-run hospital at Sorok Island in Goheung, South Jeolla Province.

“Many of the male patients were forced to undergo vasectomies because people believed that the disease was a hereditary disease, which is not true, due to lack of medical knowledge at the time,” said Choi.

The ministry said that the commission determined 17 cases as acts of oppression against the patients, wrapping up its four-year investigations. Since 2009, the 15-member commission examined more than 10,000 cases filed by the patients.

The commission said that most of the patients were senior citizens with an average age of 73.

“We will release the final report in September which will include a wide range of cases in which people were suppressed by the government and people. We wish the report will contribute to restoring the human rights of patients of Hansen’s disease,” said the commission in a statement.

Hansen’s disease, also known as leprosy, is a chronic infection caused by the bacteria mycobacterium leprae and mycobacterium lepromatosis.

The term Hansen’s disease is named after Norwegian physician Gerhard Armauer Hansen.