Joe and Lotte at the Sambhavna clinic in Bhopal, India - Blog number 4

BLOG 4!

So blog number 4 and half way through our time at the clinic now, still with so much do to that its difficult to find time for blogging!

The acute treatments at Sambhavna are not nearly as limited as we had imagined and on first look the treatment room would seem quite bare. Dr Kaiser is the general physician here and holds clinic in this larger room with a nurse usually on hand to assist. With around 30 to 40 patients seen daily by the allopathic doctors every day is usually a busy one. Whilst consulting patients at his desk 2 or 3 others are often dotted around having pain relief administered, nebulizer treatment for acute respiratory problems or dressings changed for the very frequent wounds seen. The efficiency shown puts the slow, queued pace of most GP practices in England to shame.

Work related injuries are a fairly common sight here but many fail to heal and this can be a result of poor hygiene, diabetes or other co-existing conditions such as leprosy. Whilst Sambhavna is a relative sanctuary of lush green gardens and well planned sanitation you only have to step outside the gate to realize sewage and domestic waste are often disposed into open drains or the large open dumps dotted around the colonies.

With relation to the Union Carbide chemical disaster and water pollution its shocking to think that even the fundamental right of clean water for the people of Bhopal is just not being met. Much research has been done both to map out ground water and soil pollution from the factory and has found extensive contamination. The compounds include Chloroform, Carbon tetrachloride and Chlorobenzenes amongst many others.

The December 2nd/3rd disaster is well known but many people are still not aware that another disaster at the plant has also been ongoing. Burying of many of the chemicals including DDT took place in the grounds of the plant but not in secure fashion. On visiting the site today you can still smell the chemicals leeching out of the ground. With no clean up this continues to leech further and further from the plant. As the polluted area spreads more people are becoming exposed.

These contaminants are suspected to link with various metabolic conditions such as diabetes, thyroid and menstruation disorders.This kind of metabolic disturbance has a higher than normal prevalence here and we have been surprised by the frequency of young, thin individuals with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus. The classic image of this patient would be an obese individual in their 50s -60s.

At another visit to Chingari trust we were again humbled by the plight of this future generation of Bhopal in the face of so many health inequalities. Two sisters attending the centre particularly warmed our hearts. The younger of the two has been severely mentally and physically disabled from birth however her older sister shows total unshakable devotion in caring for her. A picture attached sums up the joy in their relationship in spite of such disability. We left a locally made drum and some bracelet bells this week to help bring some rhythm to the children.

In other news we are beginning to get to grips with the Indian religion and spirituality. These two factors have a great synergism here and the population take great strength from this pillar in their society. Buddhism is one the oldest religions in India and we visited nearby Sanchi the world heritage site and ancient Buddhist religious settlement. The huge Stupas were basking gloriously in the sun when we arrived and the golden glow this gives off is truly magical. Set atop a hill the burial mounds come temples command a spectacular view of the valley and the age and importance of the site hangs prevalent in the air here.

Back to modern day religion and an artist friend from Bharat Bhaven invited us to his Hindu temple yesterday. 3 floors of bright vibrant shrines, dripping with flowers and hazed with incense greeted us. This religion is extremely refreshing and very open with locals keen and excited to share their rituals with us.

We also spent some time at the museum of man, a huge outdoor tribal musuem representing tribal traditions from across India. So large that we rented bikes to see it all! We include here a small story of the frog marriage ritual that particularly caught our eye.

Lots of Love

Joe and Lotte

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