Established in 1996, the Sambhavna Trust Clinic provides free medical care to survivors of the Union Carbide disaster in Bhopal
BHOPAL – The rate of cancer occurrence is about 13 times higher among the survivors of the 1984 Union Carbide gas disaster as compared to that in a matched unexposed population.
Addressing a press conference on the occasion of World Cancer Day on Wednesday, the Sambhavna Trust Clinic in Bhopal presented data about the rate of cancer. It showed that gas-exposed men were more vulnerable to cancer than the gas-affected women. It is also seen that the rates of blood, lung, and esophageal cancers are highest in the gas-exposed population.
Established in 1996, the Sambhavna Trust Clinic provides free medical care to survivors of the Union Carbide disaster in Bhopal.
Radhelal Napit, member of the Community Health Survey Unit of the clinic, said: “We have collected information on the health status of 21,276 gas-exposed and 25,528 unexposed individuals who have similar income and education. The data on cancer is from all those who were diagnosed with the disease between 1992 and 2012. We have copies of almost all medical records of each individual diagnosed with cancer”, he stated.
“Our data shows that, while the rate of cancer is 1569.84 per 100,000 in the gas-exposed population, it is 117.52 per 100,000 in the unexposed population. The cancer rate is 14.92 times higher among gas-exposed men, while it is 12.22 times higher among gas-exposed women”, said Farhat Jahan, who is part of the team that visited from house to house to collect information.
Chandrasekhar Sahu, another member of the survey team, pointed out that some cancers were more prevalent among the survivors of the Union Carbide disaster. “We find that the rates of blood cancers are 21.6 times higher in the gas-exposed population compared to that in an unexposed population. Likewise, the rates of lung and esophageal cancers are 28.78 and 33.86 times more, respectively, compared to those in an unexposed population.”
Another team member, Santosh Kshatriya, stated that data on gas-exposed individuals were collected from residents of Jaiprakash Nagar, Kainchi Chhola, Qaziq Camp and other areas within three kilometres of the Union Carbide factory, while information on unexposed individuals was obtained from residents of Anna Nagar, Bheem Nagar and Vallabh Nagar that are more than eight kilometres from the Union Carbide factory.
