Makeshift Clinic Opens in Former No-Go Zone in Fukushima

   Namie, Fukushima Pref., May 9 (Jiji Press)--A makeshift clinic opened Thursday in Namie, Fukushima Prefecture, becoming the first medical facility to resume service in the former no-go zones within 20 kilometers of Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s <9501> crippled nuclear power plant in the northeastern prefecture.
   The clinic, set up at Namie's town hall, will take care of residents making temporary visits to their homes.
   Since the realignment of evacuation zones with the no-go zone designation lifted for Namie last month, evacuees from the town's coastal area, where 80 pct of its population totaling 20,000 lived before the nuclear accident at the Fukushima No. 1 plant in March 2011, have been allowed to visit their homes only during daytime.
   "Though infrastructure restoration is important, town residents cannot return home without anxieties unless a medical institution is back," Namie Mayor Tamotsu Baba said in an opening ceremony for the clinic. "I'm very happy to see the opening of the makeshift clinic."
   A doctor and a nurse will be at the clinic every Thursday from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. to treat mainly acute diseases such as heat stroke as well as injuries incurred during debris removal work.

(2013/05/09-13:45)

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