Religious event at gas hosp; NGOs, victims’ body protest

Bhopal: Holding of a ‘Virat Hindu Sammelan' by a right- wing outfit inside the campus of Bhopal Memorial Hospital & Research Centre (BMHRC), a hospital constructed at the behest of the apex court for free treatment of Bhopal gas victims, has raised hackles of NGOs working among the survivors of the gas disaster. DJ was also used during the Sammelan and slogans were raised by saffron-flag carrying participants. Convener of Bhopal Gas Peedit Sangharsh Sahyog Samiti (BGPSSS), ND Jaiprakash, after spotting pictures and videos of hundreds of participants going into the BMHRC campus for the Sammelan, wrote a letter to acting director of the hospital Dr Manisha Shrivastava on how she could allow a ‘noisy' religious congregation inside a hospital premises, which is a silent zone under law. He has sent a copy of the letter to Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), which administers the hospital, as a complaint and also took up the matter with the Monitoring Committee set up by the Supreme Court.In his letter to Dr Manisha Shrivastava, Jaiprakash wrote, " I am totally surprised that you are unaware that section 3 (5) of the Noise Pollution (Regulation & Control) Rules, 2000 promulgated by the ministry of environment & forests, which declares an area comprising not less than 100 metres around hospitals, education institutions and courts....as silent zone.Which means that allowing this in BMHRC was in complete violation of the existing rules," Co-convener of Bhopal Group for Information & Action (BGIA), Rachna Dhingra told TOI, "BMHRC has turned into an event management agency... If ICMR is at all serious in running BMHRC it needs to do a serious stocktaking of the dismal situation of patient care and critical funds being used for management's personal goals ." Member of the SC Monitoring Committee Purnendu Shukla said that the issues raised are extremely important. "It is indeed surprising that a religious procession was allowed in the hospital. The question is who allowed the procession to come into the hospital premises. If such activities take place in a hospital campus, you can understand what the patients will be facing," he said.Dr Manisha Shrivastava, when asked for comments, said "Can you expect me to breach the discipline and decorum of the hospital? The programme was held far away from the main hospital building, therefore there is no question of noise troubling the patients. Some people are raising the issue of noise while others are miffed because a religious function was allowed in the campus. Religious functions on christ -mas or Onam also take place in the premises and also iftekhar as we have staff from all religions. Then, it was Sunday, a non-OPD day. It was not solely a religious congregation, we had other events also." When asked whether she was the chief guest at the function and also addressed the gathering, she said "Yes, I did speak at the function but I was not the chief guest.'