Regarding the relief system for people who have suffered health damage due to asbestos, the committee established by the Ministry of the Environment will continue to discuss whether the national relief fund can be used not only for medical treatment but also for research on treatment methods. It was decided.
Regarding health hazards caused by asbestos such as mesothelioma, the national government provides a part of medical expenses and medical treatment of about 100,000 yen per month for people who have difficulty in receiving work-related accident certification or who smoked asbestos outside the workplace. We have a relief system that provides benefits.
This system is regularly reviewed, and the Ministry of the Environment held a committee of academics and patients on the 6th for the first time in 6 years.
Among them, about 17,000 people have been certified from the start of the system in 2006 to last year, and while the national relief fund provides about 4 billion yen every year, the balance of the fund is It was shown to be about 78.3 billion yen.
The committee members have continued to say, "Mesothelioma is an incurable disease, but research is now underway to make it a curable disease." We should consider measures including revision of the law so that the fund can be used. "
Based on these opinions, the committee decided to discuss whether the fund could be used not only for medical treatment but also for treatment and testing research.
In the future, we plan to conduct hearings from patients and researchers and compile a report by the end of this fiscal year.