Parkinson's patients oppose cuts in measures for incurable diseases

Parkinson's Disease Patients' Friendship Association at the 26th general assembly on May 17 and 18 in Chiba Prefecture issued an appeal in opposition to the government plan to adversely revise the measures for incurable disease patients and called for improvements in steps to deal with such diseases.

The Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare is now seeking to remove "intractable diseases with more than 50,000 patients" and "diseases whose treatment has been improved" from the government medical subsidy program.

Upper House member Yoshikawa Haruko on behalf of the Japanese Communist Party criticized the government for discarding the measures coping with serious diseases while pouring enormous tax money into large scale public construction projects. She promised to do her utmost in parliament in support of incurable disease patients and for improvement of social services. (end)