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We were sleeping
peacefully that night. I got up to find the children
vomiting all over. First I wondered whether it was some
thing they had for dinner. Then I too started vomiting. Soon
all of us, my husband and me carrying the children were
running towards Lily Talkies. My three year olddaughter
Nazma had swelled up so much like she would burst. We took
her to Hamidia hospital. We stayed with her at the hospital
for 15 days and then the doctors said she would not survive.
We were feeling so utterly helpless because there was no
doctor around who knew how my baby could be saved. She died
on the fifteenth day. My husband Rafique owned a watch
repair shop. After the gas he suffered the most in our
family. He would need to sit under a fan. His mouth stayed
open and he had those violent coughing bouts. Often he would
cough blood. He was admitted to Hamidia hospital for three
weeks and then sent home. Soon after early one morning at 3
am he started vomiting and it would not stop. So we took him
back to Hamidia. After a month of his being in the hospital
the docotrs said now take him home we can't do anything to
help your husband. I had bitter arguments with the doctors
but finally brought my husband home. Then a Red Cross
hospital was set up near our house. One month he took
treatment there and then the doctor there said these drugs
are not doing you any good, you might as well stop taking
them. So I took him to the government's Shakir Ali hospital
but the treatment there did little good. Though we were
supposed to get free medicines the doctor there said if you
want to get better medicines you should buy them from the
market. One morning the doctor wrote a prescription and I
worried all day about where to get Rupees five hundred to
but all the medicines. My husband died the same evening at 4
o clock. Meanwhile we had had to sell off the watch repair
shop at a very low price. I went to the claim court with my
husband's medical papers but the officials there said you
have to get the "04 form"filled. They told me to come later
in December ('92) But by then the city was aflame with
Hindu-Muslim riots. I was not able to receive any
compensation for my husband's death nor for my daughter
Nazma's. My daughter Salma developed strange symptoms. She
would itch all over her body and get round blue marks as big
as a rupee coin. I took her to Hamidia then to Shakir Ali
where they told me to take her to Indore. Bu then she was in
a very bad state. She had high fever and her tear drops were
red coloured. Also she complained of her head aching all the
time. I took her to the government hospital in Jehangirabad
where even after four months of regular treatment there was
no improvement in her condition. Then I took her to a
private clinic. They told me right in the begining that
Salma's treatment will be long and expensive. I had no money
left so I brought my daughter back. But then her condition
worsened and I went back to the private clinic. At the end
of her treatment Salma was only slightly better and I was in
debt for Rs 50, 000. Till today we have not been abler to
pay back all the money. Finally Salma got treated at the
Sambhavna clinic where with Ayurvedic treatment she got much
better. I too have been very sick after the gas. I do not
remember falling sick before the gas. To keep the home fire
going I did all kinds of jobs- sweeping, washing dishes and
every kind of hard labour. My vision is blurred, I loose my
balance while walking, I get very breathless and get panic
attacks. When I tell my problems to the doctors at the
government hospitals they say you are just making all these
up. None of my children could study. Only my daughter Sazida
has passed eigth grade in the government school. The school
is supposed to be free but the teachers find ways to get
money from the students.
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