As I mentioned in last week's column, the Bhopal Gas tragedy in 1984 was one of the worst industrial disasters in the world. Bhopal has rightly been called the Hiroshima of the chemical industry. Almost 22,000 people have died until now and more than double this amount are alive, but disabled due to the exposure and the world has almost forgotten about them. The Central Government of India, the State Government, the international and national press, the various international bodies, DOW - the current owner of the company which was responsible for this accident, have almost forgotten all about the existing hundreds of thousands injured. Not everybody has forgotten about them, a small group of dedicated people are still looking after them. This group of people are the unsung heroes who come out of this extremely sorry state of affairs with any credibility whatsoever. This column is my little contribution towards publicising their efforts.
The Bhopal Gas Tragedy is now 20 year of age and as I mentioned last week, I have had personal experience of that horrifying incident. I came across this amazing group of people in trying circumstances again when my father had to undergo emergency open heart surgery recently at the Bhopal Medical Hospital and Research Centre. I hadn’t heard of this hospital before and once my father recovered, I was able to look around in amazement and pride. Obviously, I may well be biased because of my personal involvement, but hey, I am not writing a news story but an opinion piece! The doctors were amazing; they were extremely professional; they never say die (no pun intended) and were extremely caring and communicative to the relatives. I can but salute their professionalism and brilliance and will respect their desire for privacy. That said, here's the story behind this hospital and the amazing people who run it.
The first thing which one notes when one comes into this hospital is how amazingly similar it is to any of the NHS hospitals in the UK. It is based on a huge plot of land, which was given to them by the state government. It has a huge super specialised research centre, accommodation for all the staff and the hospital building itself. Also attached to the hospital are several outreach centres, which are dotted around in the city, to provide local immediate support to the gas victims. Once one is inside the gates, it is wide open, with wide roads, trees by the ton and flowers. After parking one's car, one reaches a small courtyard when the hospital opens up in front of you. It’s a nicely done up building, in dressed sandstone.
The second thing is the awesome cleanliness of the building. In the developed countries, cleanliness is taken for granted, but we are talking about a general hospital in a small provincial city in a poor country like India. One can not compare this hospital with the other general hospital, where one can sometimes even see cows roaming the corridors. There is a small army of cleaners, the corridors and wards are cleaned thrice a day with disinfectant being sprayed once a day. There are big signs against spitting. People who know India would know this absolutely disgusting habit of spitting "paan" juice or phlegm into anywhere and everywhere. Absolutely filthy habit! But walk around this hospital and you are faced by signs promising a fine of 100 rupees if one is caught spitting. Consequently, the corners and walls are clean and shiny. That in itself means that the hospital managers and security have to be complimented. I would have requested the President of India to award this hospital with the highest award just for this. One looks at this place and thinks, yes, this hospital's doctors mean business when they look after the health of their patients. Not to mention the no smoking policy all over the hospital and the grounds.
As for the patients and the heartbreaking stories they told me. I had nothing much to do while Baba was in the OT or the ICU, so I was sitting out the interregnum by speaking to the patients and their relatives. Quite a lot of the patients come to the hospital only for serious illness, while general day to day issues are handled by the outreach clinics inside the city. The hospital handles about 500 patients per day, while the out-reach clinics handle a couple of thousand daily. These patients at the hospital almost always come in because of pulmonary diseases or eye problems (mostly because their lungs and eyes were severely damaged by the poison gas). It also has specialised research facilities into these medical problems.
I was sitting next to one patient and I could hear him trying to breathe. The heavy wheezing and rasping sound was really horrible and this was from a young man of about 24 years of age. He told me how he was saved because his grandmother was sleeping on a cot and kept him with her, while he was a young child on the cot. The rest of his family, who were sleeping on the floor, all died. Other related problems such as heart problems, eye problems etc. are directly or indirectly related to problems such as these. 99% of the patients are registered as “Gas Affected” and their entire treatment, medicine and stay is free. About 1% of the patients, as was my father, are private patients and pay market rates for their treatment.
The hospital was setup with funding from Union Carbide as well as other sources. The brilliant thing was, the hospital was set up as a trust with a bunch of very strong and independent people on the governing board. The hospital basically runs on the interest earned from this fund. Guess what? This annoys the local politicians of all hues to no end. Why? Because they cannot get their hands on this money and obviously there is no corruption. The stories which I heard about how the politicians tried to put pressure are legion. This is why I am so impressed by this hospital and its administration, that it has managed to do so well, despite the local politicians. It also helped that there are good strong people on the board, who are able to resist the blandishments of these politicians. Not to mention the pressure put on them by the criminal class. If there is something I wanted to say to these goons is, leave these wonderful people alone, please do not infect them and tear down something which is a jewel in the crown of India.
One of the local state government ministers was admitted to the hospital for sorting out some serious medical problem and I had a ring side view of the entire episode. First of all, it was rather surprising that he didn’t go to the general hospital, but decided to come to the BMHRC. I wonder why? Secondly, the entire ministerial entourage was there, the lot of hangers on, the leeches and sycophants, who would near enough get inside the OT if they would have been allowed to do so. The Chief Minister came to visit her colleague and the entire juggernaut rolled inside the hospital, which was crazy. It was a sight to be seen and I watched on with disbelief as security guards, photographers, journalists, hangers on, and all just barged inside the hospital willy nilly. I saw patients and their families being shoved aside for this absolutely gruesome procession. I am sure the chief minister didn’t realise (or did she?), the impact of her visit, but I am deeply disappointed by the entire episode.
The passage in and out of the hospital as well as inside was strictly controlled through passes. Each patient is allowed to have one family member with them during their stay. As usual in Indian hospitals, the entire family and their dog stay with the patient and for obvious reasons, it is tough on the patient. Apparently the biggest security issue is the number of fights which break out when friends, family and well wishers want to visit the patient in the hospital. About time too, first get the patient well, get him/her home, and then they can see and muck around to their heart's content.
I will wind it up now, but before I do, I wanted to say that after the 1989 spill in Southern Alaska, Exxon Corporation paid roughly $940 per oil covered seal. It’s a running joke that when the first 2 seals were rescued, cleaned, nursed back to health, and released into the sea in a huge fanfare of publicity, the 2 seals were snapped up by a killer whale and killed. Tragic, no? It is even more tragic when one considers that the human victims of this poison gas got about $500 per head. Makes one think of the relative importance given to humans versus seals, eh? Still, if there is something which came out of this entire sad episode with honour, it is the BMHRC, the doctors and staff who work there. I salute them.
The Bhopal Gas Tragedy is now 20 year of age and as I mentioned last week, I have had personal experience of that horrifying incident. I came across this amazing group of people in trying circumstances again when my father had to undergo emergency open heart surgery recently at the Bhopal Medical Hospital and Research Centre. I hadn’t heard of this hospital before and once my father recovered, I was able to look around in amazement and pride. Obviously, I may well be biased because of my personal involvement, but hey, I am not writing a news story but an opinion piece! The doctors were amazing; they were extremely professional; they never say die (no pun intended) and were extremely caring and communicative to the relatives. I can but salute their professionalism and brilliance and will respect their desire for privacy. That said, here's the story behind this hospital and the amazing people who run it.
The first thing which one notes when one comes into this hospital is how amazingly similar it is to any of the NHS hospitals in the UK. It is based on a huge plot of land, which was given to them by the state government. It has a huge super specialised research centre, accommodation for all the staff and the hospital building itself. Also attached to the hospital are several outreach centres, which are dotted around in the city, to provide local immediate support to the gas victims. Once one is inside the gates, it is wide open, with wide roads, trees by the ton and flowers. After parking one's car, one reaches a small courtyard when the hospital opens up in front of you. It’s a nicely done up building, in dressed sandstone.
The second thing is the awesome cleanliness of the building. In the developed countries, cleanliness is taken for granted, but we are talking about a general hospital in a small provincial city in a poor country like India. One can not compare this hospital with the other general hospital, where one can sometimes even see cows roaming the corridors. There is a small army of cleaners, the corridors and wards are cleaned thrice a day with disinfectant being sprayed once a day. There are big signs against spitting. People who know India would know this absolutely disgusting habit of spitting "paan" juice or phlegm into anywhere and everywhere. Absolutely filthy habit! But walk around this hospital and you are faced by signs promising a fine of 100 rupees if one is caught spitting. Consequently, the corners and walls are clean and shiny. That in itself means that the hospital managers and security have to be complimented. I would have requested the President of India to award this hospital with the highest award just for this. One looks at this place and thinks, yes, this hospital's doctors mean business when they look after the health of their patients. Not to mention the no smoking policy all over the hospital and the grounds.
As for the patients and the heartbreaking stories they told me. I had nothing much to do while Baba was in the OT or the ICU, so I was sitting out the interregnum by speaking to the patients and their relatives. Quite a lot of the patients come to the hospital only for serious illness, while general day to day issues are handled by the outreach clinics inside the city. The hospital handles about 500 patients per day, while the out-reach clinics handle a couple of thousand daily. These patients at the hospital almost always come in because of pulmonary diseases or eye problems (mostly because their lungs and eyes were severely damaged by the poison gas). It also has specialised research facilities into these medical problems.
I was sitting next to one patient and I could hear him trying to breathe. The heavy wheezing and rasping sound was really horrible and this was from a young man of about 24 years of age. He told me how he was saved because his grandmother was sleeping on a cot and kept him with her, while he was a young child on the cot. The rest of his family, who were sleeping on the floor, all died. Other related problems such as heart problems, eye problems etc. are directly or indirectly related to problems such as these. 99% of the patients are registered as “Gas Affected” and their entire treatment, medicine and stay is free. About 1% of the patients, as was my father, are private patients and pay market rates for their treatment.
The hospital was setup with funding from Union Carbide as well as other sources. The brilliant thing was, the hospital was set up as a trust with a bunch of very strong and independent people on the governing board. The hospital basically runs on the interest earned from this fund. Guess what? This annoys the local politicians of all hues to no end. Why? Because they cannot get their hands on this money and obviously there is no corruption. The stories which I heard about how the politicians tried to put pressure are legion. This is why I am so impressed by this hospital and its administration, that it has managed to do so well, despite the local politicians. It also helped that there are good strong people on the board, who are able to resist the blandishments of these politicians. Not to mention the pressure put on them by the criminal class. If there is something I wanted to say to these goons is, leave these wonderful people alone, please do not infect them and tear down something which is a jewel in the crown of India.
One of the local state government ministers was admitted to the hospital for sorting out some serious medical problem and I had a ring side view of the entire episode. First of all, it was rather surprising that he didn’t go to the general hospital, but decided to come to the BMHRC. I wonder why? Secondly, the entire ministerial entourage was there, the lot of hangers on, the leeches and sycophants, who would near enough get inside the OT if they would have been allowed to do so. The Chief Minister came to visit her colleague and the entire juggernaut rolled inside the hospital, which was crazy. It was a sight to be seen and I watched on with disbelief as security guards, photographers, journalists, hangers on, and all just barged inside the hospital willy nilly. I saw patients and their families being shoved aside for this absolutely gruesome procession. I am sure the chief minister didn’t realise (or did she?), the impact of her visit, but I am deeply disappointed by the entire episode.
The passage in and out of the hospital as well as inside was strictly controlled through passes. Each patient is allowed to have one family member with them during their stay. As usual in Indian hospitals, the entire family and their dog stay with the patient and for obvious reasons, it is tough on the patient. Apparently the biggest security issue is the number of fights which break out when friends, family and well wishers want to visit the patient in the hospital. About time too, first get the patient well, get him/her home, and then they can see and muck around to their heart's content.
I will wind it up now, but before I do, I wanted to say that after the 1989 spill in Southern Alaska, Exxon Corporation paid roughly $940 per oil covered seal. It’s a running joke that when the first 2 seals were rescued, cleaned, nursed back to health, and released into the sea in a huge fanfare of publicity, the 2 seals were snapped up by a killer whale and killed. Tragic, no? It is even more tragic when one considers that the human victims of this poison gas got about $500 per head. Makes one think of the relative importance given to humans versus seals, eh? Still, if there is something which came out of this entire sad episode with honour, it is the BMHRC, the doctors and staff who work there. I salute them.
All this to be taken with a grain of salt!
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