NEW DELHI: Five years after the gas tragedy in the central Indian city of Bhopal a group of doctors who conducted a survey of the gas affected areas in the city have found that large proportion of the population still suffers from serious gas related disorders and the government figures of those permanently disabled were “grossly underestimated”.
Two doctors who were part of a 43member fact finding team told journalists on Friday that a survey in October of some seriously and mildly affected areas of Bhopal revealed that even today 70 to 80 per cent of people in the seriously affected areas and 40 to 50 per cent in the mildly affected areas suffer from “a medically diagnosed illness”.
The doctors found that over 70 per cent of the those who inhaled the toxic methylisocyanate gas which escaped from the Union Carbide plant in the city on the fateful night of Dec 3, 1984, were suffering from severe respiratory disorders, chronic eye diseases, cataracts, menstrual irregularities and other neurological disorders.
Article extracted from this publication >> December 8, 1989
