Keep Sambhavna Trust Clinc running for the survivors of the World's worst industrial disaster

Almost thirty seven years after the Union Carbide gas disaster in Bhopal, over 120,000 people still suffer severe illnesses related to the damage caused by the gases to almost every system of their bodies. In addition, close to 100, 000 people have been drinking ground water contaminated by toxic chemicals for last 14 to 20 years. Despite adequate expenditures by the government, the medical care of the exposed people continues to be terribly inadequate. Union Carbide continues to refuse to share medical information on the leaked gases and symptomatic treatment has come to be the mainstay of medical care of the survivors at government hospitals. Following from this it is not uncommon to find damages caused by gas exposure to be compounded by treatment received. In the last few years, thousands of survivors have died of kidney diseases possibly linked both to their toxic exposure and the consumption of painkillers over decades.

Since 1996, we have registered close to 36, 000 chronically ill people from affected communities for free medical care at the Sambhavna Trust Clinic located 400 metres from the Union Carbide in the midst of the most severely affected communities. In the last 25 years we have developed safe, simple and effective treatment protocols through integration of Ayurveda, Panchakarma and Yoga with Modern medicine. Medical care at the clinic is supported by a well equipped pathology laboratory and facilities for investigations and emergency care. In addition to medical care, the clinic also carries out research in to the long term effects of the disaster and contamination and treatment efficacies, monitors exposure related deaths, conducts surveys and health education exercises in the communities and runs a documentation centre that collects and distributes information on the disaster.

1. Provide sustained relief to maximum number of persons registered at the clinic from their chronic health problems
2. Document long term health injuries caused by acute exposure to gas and chronic exposure to contaminated groundwater
3. Create a model centre for appropriate medical response to a chemical disaster
4. Using the power of demonstration (of a working model) bring about change in the prevalent system of healthcare of the survivors of the disaster.
5. Keep "Bhopal" alive as a means to prevent its recurrence.