Special hospital for gas victims plagued by problems (To go with The Bhopal health saga - battling for survival every day)

BHOPAL - The Bhopal Memorial Hospital and Research Centre (BMHRC) set up in 2000, is a super-speciality hospital that raised many hopes among gas leak survivors. However, BMHRC suffers from a range of fundamental problems, activists say.

“Since the hospital also treats non-affected people who are required to pay ‘user fees’, its administrators have become increasingly hostile to non-paying gas victims. Gas victims, who are entitled to receive free treatment, are discriminated against, while patients who pay are given priority at BMHRC,” said Syed Mohammad Irfan of the NGO Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangarsh Morcha.

“Less than half of the survivor population is actually registered in BMHRC. And despite the well documented effects of the gas on women and the second-generation, the hospital does not have either gynaecological or paediatric wards. Victims of water contamination too are denied free care by the hospital”, said Satinath Sarangi, the founder of Sambhavna Trust, which runs a clinic in the heart of the gas leak-affected localities.

“Although research is mentioned as one of the key objectives, BMHRC has not conducted any research till date and it does not have enough specialists either. There is only one specialist in pulmonary medicine and one psychiatrist in the 350-bed, high-end hospital,” Sarangi said.

The hospital was set up with funds generated through sale of Union Carbide’s shares in its Indian subsidiary.