By Pervez Bari
Bhopal: The Chief Justice of Madhya Pradesh High Court has reprimanded the Union of India for filing an inadequate & incomplete submission on the status of medical treatment available at Bhopal Memorial Hospital & Research Centre (BMHRC), for those affected by the 1984 Union Carbide gas disaster. The Chief Justice has also sought 100% compliance on all inadequacies pointed out by the Supreme Court-appointed Monitoring Committee.
In 1998, Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Udyog Sangathan & Bhopal Group for Information & Action had moved the Supreme Court in a Writ Petition and had sought appropriate and adequate medical care & research facilities for the Bhopal gas victims. In 2004, the Supreme Court had appointed the Monitoring Committee to apprise them of medical care facilities at various hospitals being run by the state and central government. In 2012, the Supreme Court transferred the matter to the MP High Court to oversee this crucial issue.
In the hearing on Tuesday, the Petitioners counsel and court’s amicus, Naman Nagarath stated that the December 2021 affidavit filed by the Director, BMHRC has not addressed a single concern raised by the Monitoring Committee in its 16th, 17th & 18th Quarterly Reports. These reports have shown the pathetic state of medical care at the 350 bed super speciality hospital being run by the Indian Council of Medical Research, Department of Health Research, Govt. of India. The Report also observed that no progress has been made towards the improvement in the functioning of BMHRC after its control has been entrusted to ICMR. Positions of Professors and Associate Professors are vacant for the last 10 years. The most crucial departments of Nephrology, Neurology, Gastro-medicine, Surgical Oncology are non-functional due to lack of specialists and doctors. It also observed the non-availability of several crucial medicines and procurement of much needed equipments is yet to happen.
Petitioner 2, representative of Bhopal Group for Information & Action, Rachna Dhingra who also was present in the court and presented facts regarding the deteriorating condition of BMHRC and have sought directions in improving its condition. She expressed satisfaction and hoped that things will change vis-a-vis the crucial medical care needs of the survivors. She also commended the Monitoring Committee for presenting status before the Madhya Pradesh High Court.
The Chief Justice of the M. P. High Court has directed the Union of India to file its compliance report on all concerns & recommendations made by the Monitoring Committee by 10th January, 2021.
Meanwhile, it may be recalled here that on the intervening night of December 2-3, 1984 Union Carbide pesticide manufacturing factory in Bhopal had spewed nearly 40 tonnes of poisonous Methyl Iso-cyanate gas exposing over 5,00,000 people to the toxic fumes. While 3,000 people had perished virtually instantly and over the years more than 25,000 have kissed death and the sad saga is still continuing uninterruptedly. About half a million people are still suffering from the side effects of the poisonous gas and several thousand people have been maimed for life.