People's Democracy

BHOPAL MEMORIAL HOSPITAL

Memo Points out Injustices to Gas Victims

FOR about a quarter of a century, the Bhopal Gas Peedit Sangharsh Sahyog Samiti (BGPSSS) has been fighting, in collaboration with the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), for the cause of the gas victims. Recently the Samiti sent a memorandum to Dr Manmohan Singh, the prime minister of India, to draw his attention to the injustices which are still meted out to the gas victims. The memorandum sought to point out that for the last several years, the trust set up by the Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) and the DOW company, under the chairmanship of Justice Ahmadi, has been indulging in irregularities and corruption in the Bhopal Memorial Hospital and Research Centre (BMHRC). This is tantamount to doing grave injustice to the seriously ill and suffering gas victims of Bhopal, the memorandum said.

It was after a long struggle of the Bhopal gas victims that the central government took over the hospital. But the memorandum expressed concern over the present situation of Bhopal Memorial Hospital after its take-over by the central government. There is complete lack of transparency in its functioning and paucity of information regarding the decisions about the hospital at all levels.

The BGPSSS memorandum said the organisation has come to note that old trustees of the UCC-DOW trust efforts are making all-out efforts to become members of some committee that is going to be formed to run the hospital. It was due to this reason that Robert Percival, former trustee, came to India and tried to meet the concerned minister in Delhi. He also came to the Bhopal Memorial Hospital. This is completely against the norms and the public opinion. He had also come to Bhopal a few months back and met the chairman of the empowerment committee of BMHRC in an attempt to assert his stake.

The memorandum sought to bring to the prime minister’s notice that the Bhopal Memorial Hospital and Research Centre is in the city the most important hospital with complete infrastructure and expertise, where the lives of gas victims may be saved. But due to the poor management, aristocracy and the self-centred attitude, the BMHRC has become a centre of grave corruption of different types. Since long, a nexus of the corrupt higher staff, some doctors, medical and other suppliers, contractors and some internal personnel has been indulging in acts of corruption of every kind, as they have practically hijacked and taken full control of the hospital. This has severely damaged the functioning of the hospital and threatens the life of the surviving gas victims of Bhopal as there is grave shortage of doctors as well as lack of motivation in the staff. All this is having a direct effect on the gas victims who are being denied treatment here. Hence the gas victims have to wander here or there or go to less equipped private hospitals, and spend money which they are unable to afford. They are thus being compelled to die. For the last few months, several departments of the hospital have not been working and there have been no experts either, while the medical expenses of the hospital have increased to nearly “400 times,” as the claim goes!

Recently a case of unethical drug trial on serious victims by some senior doctors in the hospital has been exposed. Action is still awaited in this regard also.

A few days back, the BGPSSS found a case of “consent  for death,” called  “Sahamati Patra” in Hindi, for which a seriously ill gas victims, admitted in the hospital, were being pressurised. In case these patients had signed such letters, they would have been held responsible for all the perils involved in the treatment, including death due to the lack of medical experts in most of the departments in the hospital. Copies of this letter’s draft were given by the hospital to seriously ill gas victims, admitted there, bringing pressure upon them to sign it.

The organisation has also brought to public notice the official letters issued by the hospital, referring seriously ill gas victims to private doctors. In this way they are compelling them to get admitted into private clinics and spend money on private doctors. The management has falsely claimed that it has been paying back to the patients, which is not true.

The BGPSSS memorandum to the prime minister also highlighted that it is a common complaint of the seriously ill Bhopal gas victims that they are discouraged from coming for treatment and getting admitted to this hospital. Also, dates for investigations and admission are being given to private patients on a priority basis, and these are treated as VIPs.

Due to poor communication from the local management and very slow movement on part of the Government, the staff of this hospital was once compelled to start an agitation. It is the insecure environment, biased attitudes, creation of local committees for purchases, and the uncertainties regarding regularisation of pay scales that brought the employees to the path of agitation.

The above issues are the life and death concerns for the seriously ill and suffering Bhopal gas victims who were compelled to launch an agitation to save their life.

In view of all these facts, the BGPSSS memorandum to the prime minister has put forward the following demands.

1) There must be transparency in all decisions regarding the formation of any committee for running the hospital. Formation of a national level committee etc must be discussed in advance with the organisations of the gas victims and hospital staff, and all the discussion must be made public. All future must be made with the consent of gas victims’ organisations and the staff.

2) There must be clear-cut guidelines and protocol regarding all aspects of treatment, admission, services to the gas victims, and coordination with the gas victims’ organisations, Indian Council of Medical Research etc.

3) There should be separate timings for private patients in the hospital, and it should not at all affect the services and quality of treatment to the common gas victims for whom the hospital was built.