Hospital for gas victims cheated patients: BGPMS

Bhopal, May 5 (UNI) The Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Sangathan (BGPMS), an organisation working for the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy victims, has alleged that super speciality Bhopal Memorial Hospital and Research Centre (BMHRC) has been reduced to a centre for fulfilling vested interests of certain people.

BGPMS convenor Abdul Jabbar told reporters here today the Supreme Court had recently ordered the release of Rs 38 crore, which formed the part of assets of erstwhile Bhopal Hospital Trust (BHT) and was lying frozen in a bank, to Bhopal Memorial Hospital Trust (BMHT) on the basis of wrong claims presented by the hospital management.

He said despite functioning for six years now, several departments of the hospital were not operating properly and many of them were on the verge of closure.

More than 25 doctors and 60 nurses and paramedical staff had resigned due to hospital's negligence, while several patients were forced to undergo treatment at their own expense.

The BGPMS convenor said Rs 10 crore had been spent upon research being conducted under BMHRC Director General Professor Indranil Mitra during the past three years.

However, the subject matter of the research and its preliminary results were not yet known.

He alleged that Rs 3-5 lakh was being spent on BMHT Chairman Justice A M Ahmadi every month, while Rs 50,000 was being spent on acting director Aziz Ahmed Siddiqui.

Mr Jabbar said large-scale irregularities had taken place in appointment of people, purchase of equipment and medicines.

He demanded that better facilities be made available to gas tragedy victims in view of the SC order.

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