The Soul of Sambhavna

And now for the good news – at least some of it.

I went to Sambhavna in Bhopal in August 2011. Over the years since 1984 I have remembered the explosion in Bhopal, I don’t know why, but it has often popped into my consciousness over the years when some news report sneaked out. In early 2010 I was looking for a greater challenge than a few clients in Warwick and out of a copy of New Internationalist fell a leaflet for the Bhopal Medical Appeal (BMA), a UK charity.

The BMA was formed in 1994 When a group of concerned individuals placed an advert in the Guardian, a UK daily newspaper, on the date of the 10^th anniversary. Within a week enough was raised to purchase a building in Bhopal and create the Sambhavna Trust Clinic.

It was the fourth attempt by volunteer survivor organisations in Bhopal to set up a medical centre. Both state and national government in India had ignored the recommendations of the International Medical Commission on Bhopal (ICMB). It was 1996, less than two years after that advert, that the clinic opened to local people. One person, crucial to its creation, was Sathyu Sarangi, mentioned in a previous blog was appointed managing trustee, a post he still fills. It moved to its current location in 2006.

The whole emphasis was on the possibility of healing with compassion. One meaning of the word Sambhavna is ‘possibility’. A beacon of light appeared as there was still much despair in the community – still suffering.

Despite being a tiny prick in the magnitude of the problems – even today there are over 100,000 survivors still chronically ill – it represented a truly local and ‘people first’ approach and proved it was possible to evolve simple, safe, effective, ethical and participatory treatments, including monitoring and research. To date some 45,000 people have passed through its doors and probably a similar number have benefited from the outreach programmes and health initiatives. And Sambhavna continues to innovate to bring new ideas to treatment and support.

The ICMB had seen an important role for community clinics in discouraging expensive drug treatments with potentially harmful side effects over the long-term. It was already anticipated that some survivors would need to be on some form of medication for the remainder of their lives. Though they could not see beyond allopathic approaches.

The doctors at Sambhavna could, however, and wanted to use natural and traditional Ayurveda approaches including yoga, massage (panchkarma) diet and meditation as part of their healing methods. So they set up a centre where the allopathic and traditional could work side-by-side. It is worth noting, for the non-Indian readers, that all doctors in India must train in the standard modern systems and THEN go on to study Ayurveda.

Even today the four doctors* will still share their knowledge and skills and the hi-tech pathology lab serves them all as does the pharmacy where the staff distribute allopathic medicine and herbal remedies.

Almost all of the herbal treatments are grown within the acre or so (about half a hectare) of garden and produced in the adjacent small manufacturing unit. There is a walk around the garden on my youtube channel at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvDpVtB_3ZM

The garden staff are experts in their field and can often be seen giving advice to patients on growing their own plants and preparation of tisanes etc. They also provide all the 23 herbs that go in the special panchkarma oil for the body therapy treatments.

Many of the staff working at the clinic are themselves survivors from the gas explosion and water pollution, and some of their stories are told in The Bhopal Marathon (www.bhopalmarathon.com). This gives them an added sense of loyalty and care for their own community.
The team at Sambhavna has also been in the forefront of research, especially into the use of Ayurveda herbal remedies used over the long-term. Sambhavna has won several international awards for this work. There are difficulties, however, as it is hard to find a research lab in India that is not open to corruption.

The really important difference between Sambhavna and the many government hospitals (as well as those in most other countries!) is the patient focus. It might be described as ‘patient first’. Everyone is given the same courtesy and respect, whether they live on the street and arrive ragged and unkempt or they are smart and live in a house. One client commented, “a good doctor is one whose kind manner alone removes 50% of the illness.” There is no caste distinction nor religious discrimination. One innovation whilst I was there was the creation of a patient group, where representatives of the community meet with Sambhavna staff to discuss matters of praise and concern and to develop new methods of working. It was already bearing fruit in the decision making.

One of the volunteer health workers, herself with two stillborn, deformed babies, has said that “ the happiness of selfless service is greater than all happiness. In each other we find strength and the joy of friendship. Yes, we are poor, but, working together, we can achieve unimaginable things.”

*two working mainly with allopathic approaches and two mainly with Ayurveda. There is also a gynaecologist