Bhopal News: AIIMS Treatment Still Eludes Gas Survivors Despite High Court Order

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Even after a High Court order directing state government to provide free cancer treatment to Bhopal gas tragedy survivors at AIIMS Bhopal, patients are still not getting treatment. A referral letter from Bhopal Gas Tragedy Relief and Rehabilitation (BGTRR) is mandatory, forcing patients to make repeated rounds of the office for verification.

An MoU exists between Gas Relief Department and AIIMS Bhopal for free cancer treatment, but many cancer-related issues are not covered under Ayushman Card, leaving patients dependent on state-funded support. BGTRR officials blame AIIMS for not sending proper expense estimates, without which state government cannot release funds.

Rachna Dhingra of Bhopal Group for Information and Action said that while Ayushman Card covers many costs, several cancer treatments fall outside its scope, requiring state support that patients are not receiving. As a result, patients continue to go back and forth to BGTRR.

Chief medical officer Dr SS Rajput said document verification is not a major issue. According to him, the main problem is that AIIMS does not send accurate estimates of treatment expenses, preventing fund release. He said that three empanelled private hospitals Jawaharlal Cancer Hospital, Navodaya Hospital and Chirayu Hospital provide proper estimates, enabling smooth approvals, but AIIMS does not, creating delays for gas patients seeking treatment.