JAPAN: Some 14,000 elderly welfare recipients live in unregistered care homes

. TOKYO, Japan / Japan Today / National News / April 24, 2009 Some 14,000 elderly people on welfare and in need of nursing care were living in facilities that were not registered with local governments as nursing homes as of January this year, according to a welfare ministry survey whose results were released Thursday. The announcement by the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry follows a fire that killed 10 elderly people at an unregistered nursing home in Gunma Prefecture in March. According to the survey, 14,268 people who receive welfare benefits from local governments were living in unregistered care facilities for homeless or elderly people in 43 of Japan’s 47 prefectures. The ministry said some of these facilities may provide poor living environments or charge unlawfully high usage fees to the elderly, but it is difficult to regulate them since they are not covered by welfare laws. © 2009 Kyodo News.