HIROSHIMA, Aug. 1 Kyodo - About 30 supporters for Shunji Mukai, a survivor of the Hiroshima atomic bombing who now lives in Brazil, gathered in Hiroshima on Thursday and criticized the government's policy toward overseas A-bomb survivors.

Kazuyuki Tamura, a professor at Hiroshima University and a representative of the support group, slammed the policy requiring overseas A-bomb survivors to travel to Japan for medical treatment.

''It takes 30 hours (to visit Japan) from Sao Paulo by plane. People who really need medical treatment cannot come,'' Tamura said.

The government started a new policy in June to assist overseas A-bomb survivors by shouldering travel expenses to Japan, but the plan came under fire as it forced aging survivors to make a long trip.

The 72-year-old Mukai said at the gathering, ''My health condition is getting worse each year, but medical costs are high in Brazil and it is difficult for us to pay.''

''I feel vexed as I am discriminated against simply because of being overseas,'' he said.

Mukai was exposed to radiation at age 15 when the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945. He moved to Brazil in 1955.

He and six other A-bomb survivors living in Brazil on Wednesday filed a joint lawsuit with the Hiroshima District Court against the government's refusal to provide them with health-care allowances.

A similar suit was filed on March 1 by Takashi Morita, 78, the head of an association of A-bomb victims in Brazil.