Rescue workers may be allowed to give antidotes after gas attack

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Rescue personnel may be permitted to administer lifesaving injections to injured people in the event of a terrorist incident like the deadly 1995 sarin gas attack in Tokyo when the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics are held.

In principle, only doctors and nurses are permitted to perform antidote injections. However, the health ministry believes that firefighters, police and Self-Defense Forces members should also be allowed to provide such treatment during emergency operations in response to terror attacks.

The ministry plans to establish a study panel shortly to decide its policy on this matter this year.

The panel will discuss the conditions under which anti-nerve agent injections can be given and patients they should treat. The idea is to set up a system so that emergency services personnel can swiftly treat injured people.

The panel will also discuss the handling of antidotes with automatic syringes, which can be carried safely with ease, and conditions for their use. Only antidotes for injection into veins are approved in Japan, making them unsuitable for use outside hospitals.

According to chemical terrorism countermeasures devised by an expert ministry committee five years ago, victims with acute poisoning from chemical substances should be given antidote treatment within 30 minutes to a few hours after the attack. The measures also called for stockpiling medicine, as well as an early treatment system for the injured before being rushed to a hospital.

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