A chronicle of the medical disaster in newspapers:
1996
DOCTORS STILL LACK DATA ON BHOPAL CRISIS from National Mail 6/12/96. Twelve years later doctors lack information on everything from the number of casualties following the disaster to the chemical composition of the gas. More than 50,000 are still suffering according to ICMR and most of them are not being treated any differently than the general population. There was no special recognition on the part of the doctors that the ailments were gas related and have a special protocol for treatment. As a consequence many Bhopalis suffer from the after-effects of the gas leak but are prescribed the same treatments as patients who are suffering from normal ailments.
BHOPAL LIVES from the Village Voice 3/12/96. This story is about the release of the report from the International Medical Commission, twelve years after the disaster. The commission found that up to 50,000 survivors were suffering from partial or total disability. In addition to the widely recognized lung and eye injuries, the report details medical conditions that have never been identified before, such as neurotoxicological effects and post-traumatic stress syndrome.
BHOPAL VICTIMS STILL HAVE NIGHTMARES from Times of India 16/12/96. The survivors of the gas disaster are suffering from long-term neurotoxicology according to the International Medical Commission. Also, there is a stigma in being a gas victim. Women told the commission about miscarriages, inability to lift loads, breathlessness, poor vision, red and white discharge, bleeding from the nose and children with weakness, blotches on the skin and other malformations, and medicines are not effective beyond a few days.
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