Holding lighted candles members of the Sambhavna Trust Clinic, an NGO providing free medical care to the survivors of the Union Carbide disaster for the last 25 years, paid homage to those killed by the disaster near the Union Carbide factory on Thursday on the occasion of the 37th Anniversary of the disaster.
Shailendra Chourasia of the Community Research Unit, said that people exposed to the poisonous gases of Union Carbide in December 1984 continue to die untimely deaths till date. “Those exposed as children are dying in their forties after prolonged suffering from chronic diseases of the lung, kidneys and other organs and cancers. Too many gas affected people are dying of cancers of the lungs, gall bladder and ovaries” he said.
“Official data on COVID deaths show that in Bhopal district, people exposed to Union Carbide’s gases died at a rate five times more than the rest of the population. Given the increased vulnerability of the gas affected people to Covid and with a third Pandemic wave looming, it is very important that the government makes special provisions to protect the gas affected people of Bhopal without delay.” said Aasha Chouhan a member of the
Awareness Committee in the Clinic.
Located in the midst of the area most severely affected by the disaster, the Sambhavna Trust Clinic provides free long-term care to the survivors of the disaster and those exposed to groundwater contaminated by Union Carbide’s hazardous waste. In the last 25 years of its running, the Clinic has used a mix of modern medicine, Ayurveda, Panchakarma and Yoga to develop treatment protocols for the exposure induced multisystemic chronic diseases of 36,000 persons.