On the occasion of the 36th Anniversary of the Union Carbide disaster in Bhopal, members of the Sambhavyna Trust Clinic presented evidence of significantly higher prevalence of obesity and thyroid disorders among the survivors of the disaster. They also presented an account of the successful community health work carried out by the Clinic in the last eight months to address the Covid-19 Pandemic.
“Our analysis of data on Body Mass Index and diagnosis of thyroid malfunction of 27,155 persons under care for the last 15 years at the clinic, shows that persons exposed to Union Carbide’s poisonous gases were 2.75 times more likely of being overweight or obese and that they were 1.92 times more likely to suffer from thyroid disease compared to those who had not been exposed to gas.” said Dr Sanjay Shrivastav, Physician at the Clinic.
According to Satinath Sarangi, Managing Trustee of the Sambhavna Trust, higher obesity due to gas exposure is likely to have made survivors vulnerable to diabetes, hypertension, coronary heart disease, osteo-arthritis and cancers of the liver, kidney, breast and ovary and other diseases. “Survivors having thyroid diseases at almost double the usual rate, indicates that in addition to several other systems in human bodies, the Endocrine system has also been damaged due to exposure to Union Carbide's gases.” he said.
Community Health Worker, Tabassum Ara said that the staff of Sambhavna Trust Clinic and the Chingari Rehabilitation Centre have carried out work of awareness caising, recruitment of community health volunteers, attention to those with special needs and facititating the testing and care for Covid-19 in 15 communities with a population of 42000 for last eight months. “We are happy to share that our work has been commended in international publications as an example of community-based response to the Pandemic.” she said.
Established in 1996 to provide free medical care to victims of Union Carbide, the Sambhayna Trust Clinic has treated 25348 of persons with acute exposure to Methyl Iso Cyanate and other toxic gases and 7449 persons with chronic exposure to groundwater contaminated by Union Carbide’s poisonous wastes. The Sambhavna Trust is funded solely through donations from over 30,000 individuals.