The Bhopal Medical Appeal was launched in 1994, when a man from Bhopal came to Britain to tell whoever would listen about the calamitous condition of the still suffering victims of the Union Carbide gas disaster. Those who met him learned that after ten years, the survivors had received no meaningful medical help. (Unless one is prepared to accept that aspirin is a cure-all for the dreadful illnesses visited on them.)

The survivors realised that they must help themselves, because nobody else would. They wanted to open their own free clinic for gas victims. They were joined in the UK by a few individuals who put the mechanics of the Appeal together. They were in turn joined in this effort by other like minded people.

Our newsletter is called 777. The name arose from an attempt to capture the spirit of the Appeal. Someone suggested, 'saat, saat, saat', which in Hindi means 'together, together, together', but with a slight twist of the tongue could also mean 'seven, seven, seven.'

'We' means all of us, all together.

Our beginnings

Our first appeal, which appeared in The Guardian and The Observer on the 10th anniversary, in December 1994, produced a massively generous response. The task of administering this fund was taken on by the Pesticides Action Network UK (PAN-UK), which also adopted the Appeal as a project, in order that our work could benefit from its charity status, and which has generously given time and loyalty.

Our first project was to open the clinic in Bhopal. To this end, the Sambhavna Trust was formed in India to run the clinic. Working together, we were able to buy a building, recruit doctors and staff. The preliminary work, including finding the building and negotiating its sale, and training staff took just over a year to complete and Sambhavna opened its doors in 1996.

To date our Sambhavna Clinic has treated more than 12,000 people. We employ thirty staff, roughly half of whom are themselves gas survivors. We carry out valuable studies (one of which has just been published in the Journal of the Americal Medical Association), inform, educate and train people in gas affected communities to monitor their health. Working to a principle of 'first do no harm' we have pioneered new treatments combining modern medicine with traditional ayurvedic herbal medicine and yoga. Our work has won a string of humanitarian awards.

We have bought the land to build a larger clinic, with a garden for the medicinal plants used in our treatments. Now we need to raise more money for the expanded work. We have never accepted funding from companies or corporate trusts. Companies and governments are directly responsible for the suffering of the Bhopal survivors. Always, they want something in return for their money. We will not deal with them. All the funds we have ever collected have come from our own pockets.

In the Bhopal Medical Appeal 'we' don't ask 'you' to help 'us' help 'them'. The Appeal and the Sambhavna Clinic are shared efforts between those of us who are survivors, those of us who run the Clinic and the Appeal and those of us who support the effort with our money and by volunteering our skills or just our enthusiasm. This is our vision, that all of us are equal in an unbroken chain between supporters at one end and gas survivors at the other. Our sincere thanks to those who have been part of it. The people in Bhopal have a lot to give back to the rest of us. Let's carry on the good work we've begun together.

Sambhavna's awards

For meritorious service.
The Sambhavna Trust was awarded the 1999 Tajiri Muneaki prize for 'meritorious services rendered to the victims of Bhopal gas disaster'. The award is given in memory of the late Tajiri Muneaki, a Japanese campaigner against industrial pollution and occupational hazards. Amongst the other co-prize winners that year were the late Teruo Kawamoto, who fought for the rights of victims of the Chisso Corporation in Minamata.

For humanitarian work.
On September 7, 2001, Sambhavna was presented the Inner Flame Award 2001 by the Governor of Madhya Pradesh, Dr. Bhai Mahavir, for 'outstanding humanitarian work and excellence in deed'.

For compassionate action.
The Spring 2002 Mead Award - the final such Award to be given in conjunction with the Mead Centennial celebration - was awarded to the Sambhavna Clinic. The Awards honour organisations that reflect Mead's sense of the relevance of anthropology to social action: groups that have demonstrated effective, imaginative, compassionate actions on race, gender, culture, environmental justice, child rearing and self-empowerment within communities. The Sambhavna Trust was given this award for exemplifying Margaret Mead's famous words: 'Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world.'

On October 8th the hugely influential Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) published a Sambhavna study which for the first time proved conclusively that even children conceived and born after the disaster have been affected by the gases breathed by their parents. It shows that there are potentially thousands of such children who will need special medical attention and care (possibly all their lives) raising the question of compensation.

It also adds to the scientific knowledge of methyl isocyanate, corroborating a 1987 animal study done by Dr. Daya Varma at McGill University, Montreal. In 1985 the Indian Council of Medical Research had begun a study similar to ours and found differences in anthropomorphic measurements. That study was wound up incomplete in 1992 despite praise from the Chairman of the Scientific Commission on Bhopal in 1988 and the pleas of the principal investigator that it be allowed to continue until the children reached puberty.

Our study fills this crucial gap and demonstrates the value of what you and all of us together, saat saat saat, are accomplishing.

The International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal (ICJB)

The Bhopal Medical Appeal is a member of the ICJB, which seeks to obtain justice for the survivors in Bhopal. Most of the ICJB's aims have medical significance - for example, the provision of proper medical relief, including for people born since the disaster who suffer from gas- and water-poisoning, adequate compensation for past medical bills and loss of livelihood, the clean-up of the factory, which continues to poison nearby land and drinking water supplies.

We have close working relationships with those involved in the justice campaign. Some people are involved as volunteers in both.

As far as funding is concerned, monies donated to the Bhopal Medical Appeal go solely for the purpose of medical relief in Bhopal. The ICJB does not receive any funding frrom us. So stringently has this division been observed that for many years we did not even tell our donors and supporters that there was such a thing as the ICJB.

Our most recent newsletter rectifies this and now those who support us are also free to give their support separately to the justice campaign. For more information about the ICJB, pleae visit http://www.bhopal.net.

Portions of this piece appeared first in 777, the newsletter of the Bhopal Medical Appeal, in October 2003.