From Sathyu’s Introduction to Bhopal for Young People
Since 1995 we have been involved with Sambhavna which means ‘possibility’ in Hindi, the language most Bhopalis speak. We provide free medical care to more than 35,000 people who are registered with us at the Sambhavna Trust Clinic. People are treated with modern medicines as well as with herbs, massage and medicinal sauna, and through training in Yoga. Doctors and others at Sambhavna have developed safe, simple, inexpensive and effective remedies for many of the problems of the poisoned people.
It is one of the many ironies of the disaster that the illnesses of over half a million people in Bhopal have become a windfall for corporations that manufacture medicines which are but another wing of the chemical corporations. In a general way this is happening all over the world where increasingly people are falling sick due to environmental pollution. By successfully using herbs and drug free treatments like Yoga, we at Sambhavna are showing a way to escape this circle of poison. We grow more than 100 kinds of medicinal plants in our herb garden where we do not use any chemicals at all.
We also do a lot of health education and training in the affected communities and through these enable interested people in the community to take care of their own health problems, grow herbal gardens and take precautions against diseases. We do medical research to find out about the long-term health problems caused by Union Carbide and Dow Chemical as well as to find the best means for dealing with these problems. The clinic does not take money from corporations or corporate charities or big funding agencies; it runs on donations sent by over 15,000 individuals, many of whom are children. In fact the salary of one of our doctors (one who treats with herbs) is paid for by children of Reed School in Cobham near London.
