Former Hansen's disease patients have informed a national society for the disease of their opposition to having a controversial head of a sanitarium take the position of society chairman in the next election to be held in May, it was learned Sunday.
It is widely believed that Masao Yufu, director of the national sanitarium Kikuchi Keifu-en in the town of Koshi, Kumamoto Prefecture, will be elected to the top post of the society.
However, Yufu has come under sharp criticism from former patients who filed lawsuits demanding compensation from the government, maintaining that state segregation and other policies against Hansen's sufferers infringed on their human rights.