One more doctor at hospital for gas leak survivors quits

One more doctor at the Bhopal Memorial Hospital and Research Centre (BMHRC), set up for survivors of the 1984 Bhopal Gas Tragedy, quit on Thursday, a day after 13 doctors at the facility resigned, a source said. They are upset over lack of infrastructure at the hospital and denial of promotions, one of the doctors who resigned said on condition of anonymity. Before the series of resignations, there were 15 doctors at the facility, he said.

"While 13 doctors put in their papers on Wednesday, one of our colleagues resigned today. Now, only one doctor is left who has not quit," he added.

The doctors earlier submitted their resignations to BMHRC director Dr Prabha Desikan, who could not be contacted for comments.

"We have also emailed our resignations to the director general of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) today," the doctor said, adding that in their resignation documents they have mentioned that they would not report on duty after a month.

He said they were unhappy over being denied promotions despite repeated pleas.

"Besides, many times we do not have necessary medicines or surgical appliances to treat patients or carry out operations. The situation has come to such a pass that we have to wait for months before conducting a surgery (as medicines or appliances are not readily available)," he said.

Meanwhile, social activist Rachna Dhingra appealed to the doctors not to think about themselves, but about the Bhopal gas tragedy survivors who were dependent on them for medical help and treatment.

"The ICMR should intervene and help the hospital overcome the mess," said Dhingra, who is member of Bhopal Group for Information and Action, an NGO working for the tragedy survivors.

On an average 4,000 patients visit the hospital daily. The BMHRC was built, on the Supreme Court's direction, to treat the survivors of the 1984 Union Carbide gas leak incident, considered the world's worst industrial disaster. At least 3,000 people were killed and thousands of others suffered grievous health consequences when toxic gas leaked from the (now defunct) Union Carbide pesticide factory on the night of December 2 and 3, 1984.