Doctors suffer from lack of data

Frustration, unwanted pressure, poor research work, and above all a wide gap in clinical history and data, that’s what doctors who are treating gas-affected people in Bhopal have in their hands.

The affect of MIC methyl isocyanate on those who were in the womb at the time of the disaster reveals that doctors have no proper medical information about the sufferers. According to a medical history record prepared by Sambhavna Trust Clinic, an NGO-run clinic that offers free treatment and maintains data of gas victims, Om Prakash Ahirwar, 25, is a patient with mental illness, while his neighbours and relatives say he is in a state of shock after sudden demise of his mother three years ago.

Unfortunately, he also lost his father a fortnight ago, though Sambhavna Clinic executives did not know about it. All the six hospitals and a mini-unit of the Bhopal Memorial Hospital and Research Centre have no information on Ahirwar’s whereabouts. He lives in a rented house and makes a living by rag-picking. Speaking to Business Standard, Ahirwar said he was fine and wanted some respectable work. In his 10 minutes talk, he did not sound mentally ill. One of his relatives said, “He was a healthy person three years ago. He was born after five months of the disaster. But after the death of his mother, he started behaving abnormally.”

Doctors at nearby Jawahar Lal Nehru Hospital and Research Centre have no clue about the health problems of patients like Om Prakash. “We are helpless in these cases. People come here after consulting with various private clinics, ayurvedic medical practitioners, quacks and even after consuming some over-the-counter drugs. One can see that hospitals and clinics have mushroomed near the Union carbide factory area. It is true that MIC affects central nervous system but we do not have any data or analysis to prove it. It requires a lengthy process to study the patients and their symptoms. Out of frustration, our patients seek medical advice from anyone and everyone and consume any drug. As a result, cases of mental illness, kidney failure, diabetes are on the rise even after so many years of the tragedy,” a doctor in Jawaharlal Nehru Gas Relief Hospital DK Jain said.

Like Om Prakash, Shabana was born after four months after the disaster. She looks fine. Even neighbours have no idea if she has ever become seriously ill. She even argues with her mother over her age. “I had persistent headache years ago and took few medicines from Sambhavna clinic, but I am all right now,” she said.

While her mother Fatima said, “She had irregular menstruation and went for a long treatment at Sambhavna.” Most of the gas-affected people in various localities near the Union Carbide factory area are poor and labourers. They cannot wait for doctor’s long and costly diagnosis and clinical tests as their daily presence is necessary at their work places.

As a result, they consume inadequate doses for instant relief and discontinue medicines abruptly to save money. Also, doctors are now frequently changing their jobs, so it is impossible for any hospital to maintain clinical data. “The lethal toxic MIC gas certainly has adverse affects of drugs are affecting more people, as they want immediate relief,” said Devendra Kaur, a gynecologist who worked with Sambhavna clinic.