Nagasaki Hosts Doctors’ Summit on Nuclear War Prevention

Nagasaki, Oct. 2 (Jiji Press)–An international group of medical professionals dedicated to opposing the threat of nuclear war began a three-day meeting in Nagasaki on Thursday, as this year marks the 80th anniversary of the August 1945 atomic bombing of the southwestern Japan city. During the three-day World Congress, the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, which won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1985, will discuss issues such as medical care and national security under the theme of “A World without Nuclear Weapons,” with the aim of making Nagasaki the last city hit by an atomic bomb. The meeting is held every two to three years. It is the first time that the event has been hosted in Japan since the 2012 congress in the western city of Hiroshima, which also suffered a U.S. atomic bombing on Aug. 6, 1945, three days before the devastation of Nagasaki. Some 300 medical workers and others from 35 countries and regions attended the day’s opening ceremony. “I hope (participants) thoroughly clarify the inhumanity of nuclear weapons from a professional standpoint,” Terumi Tanaka, 93, co-chair of the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations, also known as Nihon Hidankyo, which won last year’s Nobel Peace Prize, said at the event. “Let us work together to achieve a world without nuclear weapons and war.” Masao Tomonaga, 82, a doctor who survived the Nagasaki bombing and has dedicated his career to caring for atomic bomb victims, also spoke at the congress. He explained the radiation damage and psychological effects of the atomic bombings based on eight decades of data. Tomonaga urged younger participants, including medical students, to come up with new approaches toward nuclear disarmament. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]