Most of MP's COVID-19 deceased were gas tragedy victims: Bhopal NGO

The Madhya Pradesh government has decided to screen the vulnerable section among the 1984 gas tragedy survivors who showed primary symptoms so that they can be isolated in view of the deaths of 17 people due to COVID-19 in Bhopal so far, a senior official said on Wednesday.

While an NGO has claimed that 15 of the 17 COVID-19 deceased were the survivors of the gas tragedy, the government said it was not in a position to confirm this claim at this stage.

"We have compiled the data of 15 out of the 17 deaths in the state capital due to COVID-19 and found that 15 were 1984 gas tragedy victims as per their health records," Bhopal Group for Information and Action (BGIA) convener Rachna Dhingra told PTI.

The BGIA, which works for rehabilitation of the gas victims, has shared a list of the 15 deceased and the health complications among them due to inhalation of toxic plumes of Methyl Isocyanate that leaked from a plant on the intervening night of December 2 and 3, 1984, killing thousands.

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"As the gas victims are already affected, they are more vulnerable to COVID-19 and hence needed extra care and attention which the authorities failed to gauge while converting the dedicated Bhopal Memorial Hospital and Research Centre (BMHRC) into a state-level COVID-19 facility, and later reversed that status following the deaths of the gas affected persons," Dhingra claimed.

Meanwhile, the state government has decided to screen the vulnerable section among the survivors of the world's worst industrial disaster so that they can be isolated at a dedicated centre in the event of showing any primary symptoms of coronavirus infection.

"We cannot say at this stage that out of 17 how many were gas tragedy victims, but we have decided to start screening those persons who are more vulnerable and have developed initial symptoms of COVID-19, so that they can be isolated and quarantined," newly-appointed Bhopal Gas Relief department's director Ved Prakash told PTI.

Once identified, they would be isolated at Rasool Ahmed Pulmonary Medicine Centre, a facility of the Gas Relief department, he said.

"If they are found to be infected with coronavirus, they would be shifted to the dedicated COVID facility in Bhopal," said Ved Prakash.

Meanwhile, the BGIA claimed that of the 15 deaths due to COVID-19, ten were over 60 years of age, three were around 50 while the rest two were under 45 years of age.

The youngest victim among them was a 39-year-old who had history of hypertension and a 42-year-old cancer patient, it claimed.

According to BGIA, all the 15 deceased had been exposed to the toxic gas and lived within four-km radius of the now-defunct plant.

"Majority of the victims had comorbidities like COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease), diabetes, cancer, TB and hypertension etc, that made them more vulnerable to COVID-19," Dhingra claimed.