Hospitals could end their studies into chronic health issues affecting people exposed to lethal chemicals in 1984
Firoza Bi was just a teenager when the world’s worst industrial disaster – the Bhopal gas tragedy of December 3, 1984 – wreaked havoc on the citizens of Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh (MP), in the heart of India.
She developed breathing problems and has been living with high blood pressure since puberty as the result of inhaling methyl isocyanate (MIC), which leaked from American company Union Carbide’s pesticide factory. Skin ailments and blisters have become part and parcel of her life. Now aged 55, Firoza still seeks treatment in the government-run Jawaharlal Nehru Gas Rahat (relief) Hospital, set up for the disaster’s victims and their families.
For Firoza and her relatives, the tragedy continues. Her eldest son Iqbal, 32, was born crippled; her younger son Amir, 20, suffers from renal failure. The entire family seeks treatment in hospitals under the Bhopal Gas Tragedy Relief and Rehabilitation (BGTRR) Department, among the six hospitals and nine dispensaries set up for victims.
“Both my sons use my ‘gas victim card’ to seek treatment in these hospitals,” she told RT. “The younger one goes for dialysis twice a week. The treatment is free and as my husband went missing after the night of the disaster, we have been struggling to make ends meet. We cannot afford private hospitals.”
But, nearly 40 years after the tragedy, the MP government is planning to merge the BGTRR and its specialized hospitals and dispensaries with the Public Health and Family Welfare Department, a confidential document (a copy of which has been seen by RT) has revealed. This would cease studies into the long-term effects of toxic gas poisoning – especially of those who were unborn babies at the time of the disaster. The proposal may be discussed at an upcoming state cabinet meeting.
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© BEDI / AFP FILES / AFP
Both Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) and Dow Jones, which bought UCC in 2001, have claimed that the tragedy was the result of sabotage, not negligence. Continued legal proceedings concerning the issue of jurisdiction, and whether or not Dow Jones can be subject to trial in an Indian court, is scheduled for a hearing on January 18.