A chronicle of the medical disaster in newspapers:
1994
HEALTH CARE OF GAS VICTIMS INADEQUATE from Times of India 22/1/94. The International Medical Commission on Bhopal has observed that the health care system for the Bhopal gas tragedy victims has been inadequate. There is no system of proper follow-up and the treatment has been generally symptomatic. The IMCB condemned the Union Carbide not only for its responsibility for the deadly gas leak, but also for its behavior later.
BHOPAL HEALTH CARE INADEQUATE from the Hindustan Times 25/1/94. The International Medical Commission says that Bhopal’s hospital-oriented delivery of health care was inappropriate for the chronic nature of problems. The Commission found that most of the data collected by the ICMR and others on the Bhopal experience were not freely available. It recommended an urgent review and full dissemination of such data and further information should be collected, and should include an evaluation of the current and long-term effects on women and children.
PROTEST AGAINST IRREGULARITIES IN HOSPITALS FOR GAS-AFFECTED from Free Press 6/5/94. Activists held a rally to protest the alleged irregularities in the hospitals. They alleged that facilities were only available to those who pay extra fees to the doctors and visit the doctors at their clinics. They also drew attention to the non-availability of doctors at the hospitals during duty hours. They alleged that the government had turned a blind eye towards the woes of the victims.
BHOPAL STRUCK BY WAVE OF ‘CHEMICAL AIDS’ from the Observer (London) 20/11/94. Ten years after the disaster the daily live of the survivors is still dictated by the tragedy. Hundreds of people suffering from the effects of acute gas poisoning queue daily at the government hospitals. Their symptoms include breathing problems, streaming eyes, ulcers, unstoppable menstrual bleeding, tuberculosis caused by the poison-induced collapse of their immune systems. Survivor’s groups claim the numbers of people coming forward with long-term, gas-induced symptoms have risen substantially in recent years.
DISASTER’S CHILDREN CONDEMNED TO CARRY LIFELONG SCARS from Business Standard 30/11/94. The story is about the situation in Bhopal a decade later. Victims don’t know what is rotting inside them; they cough, are out of breath easily and eyes burn. Although the complaints of people in queues outside the hospitals continue to increase, government agencies like ICMR have shut down 20 of the 22 gas-related investigations. It also says potentially the most dangerous long-term impact is that of psychological impairment, especially in children. It is also possible that genetic disorders and cancers may manifest themselves later.
10 YEARS LATER, CANCER LOOMS OVER SURVIVORS OF BHOPAL GAS TRAGEDY from Asian Age 1/12/94. Cancer is now the latest threat stalking survivors of the gas disaster. A team appointed by ICMR was still studying the long-term effects of MIC. They said the cancerous effects of the gas would take much longer to unravel.
BHOPAL – THE COVER-UP CONTINUES from Times of India Sunday Review 4/12/94. The reporter claims that ten years later, medical research into the gas tragedy is shockingly inadequate. There is hardly any authoritative scientific work on the consequences of exposure to MIC. Union Carbide toxicologists may have the best information on MIC but they are treating it like a trade secret. Union Carbide insisted the effects of MIC were short-term only, and limited to the lungs and eyes. But this was patently false.
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