A dark backdrop
Bhopal is well known as the site of the world's worst industrial disaster in 1984. What is less well known is that a medical disaster of unmatched proportions continues to re-victimise the gas victims to this day.
Health problems: what and how many?
Following the disaster on December 2nd-3rd 1984, the Indian Council of Medical Research [ICMR] – a government agency – concluded, on the basis of mortality figures, that over 520,000 exposed persons had poisons circulating in their bloodstream causing different degrees of damage to almost all the systems in the body.
Today, well over 120,000 chronically ill survivors are in desperate need of medical attention and an estimated 10 to 15 people are dying every month from exposure-related illnesses. While official figures report well over 5000 deaths attributable to exposure, a government agency – the Centre for Rehabilitation Studies in Bhopal – reports 2165 deaths attributable to toxic exposure in the year 1997 alone. Unofficial and more correct estimates place the current death toll at over 20,000.
Breathlessness, persistent cough, diminished vision, early age cataracts, loss of appetite, menstrual irregularities, recurrent fever, back and body aches, loss of sensation in the limbs, fatigue, weakness, anxiety and depression are the most common symptoms among survivors. The alarming rise in cancers, TB, reproductive health problems and others such as growth retardation among children born after the disaster remain undocumented. The official agency for monitoring deaths has been closed since 1992.
Earn £1 for the Medical Appeal
'To be able to hear the voices, direct and unmediated, of the survivors of the Bhopal disaster is crucial both for us and for the verdict of history. This book is a vital contribution to the story of Bhopal.' Paul Kingsnorth. Learn more.
