A young man and woman were treated by hospital staff at the Hiroshima Red Cross Hospital in early October 1945 for wounds burned by the atomic bomb. Much of the medical resources in Hiroshima city had been destroyed, and treatment was limited. A first aid station was also set up at the Hiroshima Red Cross Hospital. Medical personnel applied iodine ointment, mercurochrome, zinc oxide and other ointments to burns and bandaged them. Medical supplies were soon exhausted, and according to official damage reports, the patients were treated with little more than cooking oil and bandages. Toyoko Kugata (far right), a 22-year-old A-bomb survivor, was treated at the Hiroshima Red Cross Hospital in October 1945. Toyoko Kugata was exposed to the atomic bombing about 1.7 kilometers south of the hypocenter, and commuted to the Hiroshima Red Cross Hospital for treatment on a large eight-wheeled cart borrowed from a farmer next to her residence.
As medical supplies ran out, Hibakusha who had left the relief station or who had no relatives in the area applied cooking oil, sliced potatoes, grated cucumbers, and squeezed tomato juice to their burns. In the hot summer, flies would lay eggs in the wounds, so they were often treated by removing the maggots with chopsticks. Those who had burns on more than 30% of their body died from the wounds. Exposure to radiation from the atomic bomb slowed down the healing of the wounds significantly, and some of them took years to heal. In most cases, a scab forms and peels off after healing, often leaving a red rubbery lump of skin called a keloid. Hibakusha with burns on their faces have had difficulty finding marriage partners. Hibakusha with burns endured prejudice from those around them. Many of them continued to be prejudiced, saying that their burns smelled bad, that keloids were contagious, that they were called red devils, and that they felt sick at the sight of their burned skin. Some of the burned Hibakusha tried to hide their burns by wearing long-sleeved shirts and high necks even in the hot Japanese summer. Few of them survived without psychological scars. Those unfortunate survivors who were close to the hypocenter were, of course, charred corpses.
