<http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-4751063,prtpage-1.cms#> Hospital turns away gas victims 8 Jul 2009, 0341 hrs IST, Suchandana Gupta, TNN
BHOPAL: Mushtaq Ahmed was 20 when the gas tragedy struck this city on the midnight of December 2, 1984. Over the years, he developed a cardiac problem and both his kidneys were damaged. On September 24, 2008, he complained of stomach ache and was rushed to Bhopal Memorial Hospital and Research Centre (BMHRC), a super-speciality hospital built for treating gas victims and under the supervision of the Supreme Court. But Ahmed died the next day without any treatment as the hospital turned him away refusing to admit him. "The doctor in the emergency ward would not admit him. He kept reading the newspaper while a nurse told us to go to another hospital because there was no doctor in the gastrology department," recalled Ahmed’s brother Iftaqar. "From 12 midnight to 12 noon the next day, my brother kept tossing in pain on the hospital floor and no one would even take a look at him. We asked for an ambulance to shift him to the district hospital. We were denied that too. By the time we arranged some money and an auto to take him elsewhere, he died on the hospital floor." Twenty-five years after the tragedy, victims are being denied admission and treatment in the hospital, despite the fact that it was built with the compensation money for gas victims. Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Sangathan, a Bhopal-based NGO, has demanded dissolution of the board of trustees of the hospital. The hospital was constructed with the money received from the sale of Union Carbide properties. Sangathan convener Abdul Jabbar said, ‘‘The sole intention of this ultra-modern, state-of-the-art hospital was to provide medical treatment to gas victims. The hospital initially had a Rs 290 crore corpus which has now become more than Rs 500 crore. The interest earned annually from this money is around Rs 50 to Rs 60 crore. Also, other patients pay for their treatment, which brings an annual income of Rs 6 crore to Rs 9 crore.’’ ‘‘Mushtaq Ahmed is not an isolated case. Gas victims are being denied treatment, admission, even medicines. The neurology department has no doctor. Nephrology and urology departments are running with one doctor each. Six departments have closed down and 10 are running partially. Take a gas victim to the hospital and the doctor is not available, there are no medicines and there is no bed to admit patients,’’ Jabbar alleged. Aqueel Ahmed, 29, a gas victim, has damaged kidneys and requires dialysis three times a week. He claimed the hospital is supposed to provide treatment and medicine free of cost. Instead a rule has been formulated to provide dialysis just 10 times in a life-time. ‘‘Why only 10 dialysis when they are supposed to be providing free treatment for life-time? They told me to get my treatment done outside. I require hemoglobin injections once a week and BMHRC has not given a single shot so far. Each injection costs me Rs 1,300. I have gone bankrupt having paid Rs 8 lakh for dialysis and injections,’’ Aqueel said. - Jogesh
