390.1115/5413: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Minister in Switzerland (Harrison)
2526. American interests—Far East. Your 4658, October 15th.63 Request Swiss Government to draw to attention of Japanese Government that:
- 1.
- Article 14 of Prisoners of War Convention provides for admission of prisoners at expense of detaining Power to any military or civil medical unit qualified to treat them.
- 2.
- Japanese detainees and internees held by American authorities, as well as Japanese who have been evacuated from customary places of residence in Pacific Coast region and accommodated in assembly and relocation centers, are regularly admitted for treatment to hospitals in which nurses, bedding, food, et cetera, are provided without the necessity of patients having recourse to outside sources.
- 3.
- American Government, therefore, expects on a basis of reciprocity, as well as treaty provision, that Japanese Government will extend like treatment to American citizens detained, interned or evao-uated from their customary places of residence by the Japanese authorities.
In cases in which the Japanese Government offers to provide accommodations in hospitals which appear not to be properly qualified to treat internees because of language difficulties or because persons treated in such hospitals must call for assistance on outside sources which internees will not ordinarily have available or for other good and sufficient reason, the Swiss Government may authorize its representatives to pay cost of treatment in satisfactory hospitals, whenever available, in so far as it exceeds cost of treatment in hospitals which would otherwise be employed. Any such disbursements should be treated as advances under Department’s 1202 February 14.64