Medical care
Proper information to guide medical care is unavailable in Bhopal. The disaster was unprecedented and all information about the nature of the leaked gases and the health impact is being withheld by Union Carbide.
In the absence of information the medical care of the survivors has largely remained symptomatic. Well over Rs 150 crores ($95 million) has been spent on medical care of gas victims by the government yet treatment for exposure-related illnesses remain elusive.
Inappropriate prescriptions
In the absence of a standardized protocol doctors indiscriminately prescribe antibiotics, steroids and psychotropic medicines, often causing more harm than good. In the prevalent system of care based on modern medicine, relief from symptoms is temporary, if at all.
Information witheld
The medical care of the survivors of Bhopal has remained essentially unchanged since the morning of the disaster when nothing was known about the poisonous gases. Union Carbide continues to withhold information on the full composition of the leaked gases and their long term effects on the human body.
In the absence of this information, the Chief Medical Officer (Gas Relief), has been forced to admit the lack of specific treatment for gas-induced diseases. A study by the IMCB on Bhopal confirmed severe lacunae in the medical treatment being given to the survivors.
The inadequacies of the government's healthcare system has led to a flourishing business opportunity for private medical practitioners. In the severely affected areas nearly 70% of the private doctors are not even professionally qualified yet they form the mainstay of medical care in Bhopal.