Bhopal: While Union and State governments are promoting Yoga at all levels, government hospitals in Bhopal have no faith in time-tested yoga. Several government hospitals have given this in writing that yoga hasn’t proved helpful for their patients at all.
However, Sambhavna Trust that works for gas victims and also runs yoga centres has claimed that it has provided relief to more than 10,000 gas victims through Yoga. On the eve of the International Yoga Day, members of the Sambhavna Trust Clinic shared details with media persons on the special role of yoga in the treatment of the survivors of the Union Carbide gas disaster in Bhopal. Dr MM Mali claimed that more than 10,000 persons received free treatment through yoga for gas exposure related ailments at their charitable clinic.
“There is enough medical evidence and specialist opinion for inclusion of yoga in the hospitals run by the Bhopal Gas Tragedy Relief and Rehabilitation Department of the state government but yoga therapy continues to be denied in these hospitals,” said Dr Mali.
While the state run hospitals like Master Lal Singh Gas Relief Hospital, Kamla Nehru Hospital, Jawahar Lal Nehru Gas relief hospital, Shakir Ali Khan Hospital and others have given in writing that yoga therapy hasn’t helped the gas victims at all. But, Kamla Nehru Hospital, the nodal hospital that controls all the gas relief hospitals, admits that yoga has helped lot of gas victims.
Yoga benefits in numbers
Going by a Right to Information (RTI) response of Kamla Nehru Hospital- 559 patients or 73% of the patients visiting various gas relief hospitals in the year 2007 have benefited from yoga. While in the year 2008, about 946 patients benefited through yoga. In another response, the hospital provided details of ailments that were relieved through yoga. It said that the patients suffering from medical conditions like body ache, joint pain, thyroid, high BP etc got relief through yoga.
Pathetic condition of yoga centres which costed Rs 4 crores
Members of the Sambhavna Trust also pointed out about the pathetic condition of 7 yoga centres built for survivors of the gas disaster in 2014 at the cost of Rs 4 crores. Member of the trust produced photographic evidences of how these centers where being used for holding wedding parties besides housing offices of municipal corporation and a college.
