Mumbai: In a press conference today (December 30), the members of the recently formed Union Carbide Poison Victims’ Healthcare Rights Front announced a peaceful campaign to keep the Sambhavna clinic operational after it is set to close tomorrow due to shortage of funds.
The clinic, which has been offering free medical care to the survivors of the Union Carbide disaster in Bhopal for the past 28 years, is facing financial distress as it waits for the resolution of its application for registration under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA). The trust’s application for FCRA registration has been pending with the home ministry for close to two years, since February 2023.
The Healthcare Rights Front, representing both clinic staff and beneficiaries, has declared it will lead an indefinite dharna (protest) starting January 1 at the clinic’s premises, demanding immediate resolution of the Sambhavna trust’s application issue.
At the press conference, organised in Bhopal, Nathuram Soni, a survivor of the Union Carbide disaster who receives care at the clinic, shared a letter that the Healthcare Rights Front had sent to home minister Amit Shah on December 16. Soni, emphasising on the urgent intervention from the home ministry, said:
“The Sambhavna clinic runs on small donations from thousands of ordinary individuals across over 40 countries. These donations are not reaching the clinic due to the delay in granting FCRA registration. We have drawn the attention of the home minister to the unacceptable delay in processing the application.”
Dr. Satinath Sarangi, a consultant at the Sambhavna trust and a signatory to the letter, also expressed his concern about the clinic’s closure:
“Sambhavna clinic’s integrated approach combining modern medicine with Ayurveda and yoga has proven especially effective in treating the multi-systemic injuries caused by exposure to methyl isocyanate and other toxins from the Union Carbide disaster.”
The closure of the clinic, Sarangi said, “will severely impact over 37,000 patients who rely on long-term care”.
“It will also deprive more than 30,000 survivors of essential community health services, including malaria and dengue eradication, cervical cancer screening, and efforts to reduce tuberculosis incidence,” Sarangi added.
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Underlining the impact of the clinic, Bano Bee, a survivor and one of the leader of the Healthcare Rights Front, shared that despite her advanced age and the numerous diseases she has suffered from due to the gas leakage three decades ago, she remains mobile.
“Like me, thousands of others have benefited from the clinic. Many of us have already written postcards to the home minister. We are committed to ensuring the clinic stays open, and we will not allow the government to restrict compassion. We urge people worldwide to join us in our fight and make 2025 a year of hope for the survivors of the worst industrial disaster in history,” Bano Bee said.
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