40 years on, a vigil near Union Carbide pays tribute to Bhopal gas tragedy victims, highlighting ongoing struggles.
On the 40th anniversary of the Bhopal gas tragedy, members of the Sambhavna Trust Clinic, providing free medical care to survivors, on Monday night paid homage to victims by holding a candlelight vigil near the now defunct Union Carbide factory in the city.
At the disaster site, the members of the clinic ruled that due to lack of proper medical care, untimely death of gas victims is continuing even 40 years after the world's worst industrial catastrophe.
Speaking on improvements required in the health care system, the clinic's Lab technician, Umakant Joshi, said, "Even today, 1.5 lakh people are suffering from chronic diseases caused by gas exposure. For proper medical care of the survivors, it is very important to collect information on diseases that are common among the survivors and what they are doing to deal with them."
"It is our observation that a large number of survivors in need of medical care are going to unqualified medical practitioners instead of well-equipped hospitals run by the Madhya Pradesh and central governments," he said.
Dr. Shweta Chaturvedi, a yoga therapist at the clinic, said treatment of many diseases afflicting people exposed to Union Carbide's poisonous gas is possible through the ancient practice.
"So far, more than 7,000 gas victims have received successful treatment through yoga therapy in our clinic. At Sambhavna, yoga is used as a method of treatment without linking it to any religion. We have found medical care through yoga is particularly beneficial for asthma, PCOD, obesity, insomnia, cervical spondylosis and sciatica. Yoga is also effective in reducing menstrual pain in next generation girls of Bhopal gas survivors," noted Chaturvedi.
Community health surveyor Santosh Kshatriya said, "The charitable trust run-clinic, besides providing free medical care, also manufactures 85 kinds of ayurvedic medicines in the facility. The clinic also provides free medical care to people suffering from groundwater polluted by Union Carbide's toxic waste."
Over the last 28 years, the clinic has developed effective treatment protocols by integrating Ayurveda and yogic methods with modern medicine, he explained.
Currently, 37,000 people affected by gas exposure and groundwater pollution have registered themselves for long-term care at the clinic, Kshatriya added. In the intervening night of December 2-3, 1984, highly toxic gas methyl isocyanate (MIC) leaked from Union Carbide's pesticide plant, killing 5,479 people and maiming more than five lakh others.
(This story has been slightly reworked from an auto-generated PTI feed.)