Hepatitis B patients agree to $39b deal

The decision will bring to an end a series of lawsuits across the country but it will pose the government with a headache as it looks for ways to raise the 3.2 trillion yen, with the possibility it may have to raise taxes.

Tokyo had already expressed a readiness to accept the proposal, bringing to an end the country’s largest medical dispute that will see it compensate about 430,000 people infected with the potentially fatal disease during decades ago.

“This is a tough decision, but we decided to accept (the proposal) to end this issue swiftly,” the plaintiffs said on Saturday. “We demand that the government learn from this lessen and do the best to solve this problem as soon as possible,” said one of the plaintiffs, Mieko Taniguchi.