The Bhopal Medical Appeal

18/05/2026

A reminder that our free exhibition Enduring Violence: Bhopal’s Ongoing Water Disaster, opens this Wednesday, May 20th and runs until Sunday May 24th, 12pm-5pm, at The Phoenix Art Space, Brighton. Curated by Dr. Lynn Wray and new BMA trustee Professor Clare Barker from the LivingBodiesObjects collaboration, the exhibition will highlight the current water contamination near the Union Carbide factory in Bhopal through the testimonies of survivors, photographs, and original artwork. It is a poignant reminder of how the effects of the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy continues to harm generations of Bhopalis. We hope you're already enjoying Brighton Fringe festival and that we'll see you there!

11/05/2026

Our free exhibition Enduring Violence: Bhopal’s Ongoing Water Disaster, runs Wednesday, May 20th - Sunday May 24th, 12pm-5pm, at The Phoenix Art Space, Brighton. Curated by Dr. Lynn Wray and new BMA trustee Professor Clare Barker from the LivingBodiesObjects collaboration, the exhibition will highlight the current water contamination near the Union Carbide factory in Bhopal through the testimonies of survivors, photographs, and original artwork. It is a poignant reminder of how the effects of the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy continues to harm generations of Bhopalis. We are delighted to again be participating in the Brighton Fringe festival and hope you can join us there!

27/04/2026

It is with deep sadness that we heard news of the passing of India's most acclaimed photojournalist, Raghu Rai, yesterday April 26th, at the age of 83.

Rai faithfully documented the aftermath of the 1984 Union Carbide Bhopal gas disaster in a series of the most striking and harrowing pictures ever taken, including the image of a father brushing the dirt from the face of his child to look at her a final time as he laid her to rest, an image which has become synonymous with the disaster and the struggles of the survivors.

His other photographs capture the true extent of the injuries suffered by the people of Bhopal that night, and the enduring spectre of the UCC pesticide factory looming over the city you see here.

He remained a loyal friend and ally of both the Bhopal survivor community and the Bhopal Medical Appeal all his life, even as he continued to document the events that shaped the course of Indian history over the past four decades. He was a true visionary that saw his work as a spiritual calling, and time and again shone a light on injustice wherever it arose. He will be sorely missed.

24/04/2026

https://bhopal-medical-appeal.shorthandstories.com/beneath-the-surface/index.html

We are extremely excited to share with you our long-form story on Bhopal’s second disaster: the water contamination that continues to affect thousands of people in Bhopal each day, even four decades after the gas disaster.

Created as part of the LivingBodiesObjects project with Leeds University and funded by the Wellcome Trust, the story was created with Shorthand, an interactive storytelling platform where content is revealed by scrolling. The story festures new interviews, fresh data, original artwork, striking photography, and interactive digital maps.

This is Beneath the Surface: Inside the Enduring Violence of Bhopal’s Two Disasters. Read it now!

20/03/2026

Wishing you a happy Eid from everyone at the Bhopal Medical Appeal and the Chingari and Sambhavna clinics!

A huge thank you to everyone who donated to support the children at Chingari Trust and helped transform their lives this Ramadan.

To read all the stories, visit https://www.bhopal.org/chingari-child-rehabilitation-fund/

19/03/2026

Mohammad Used Ali's Story

*To support life-changing treatment for Used and other children like him, visit:
https://donate.bhopal.org/

Mohammad Used Ali is 6 years old and has been attending the Chingari Children’s Rehabilitation Centre in Bhopal for nearly 3 years. His grandfather is a survivor of the 1984 Union Carbide Bhopal gas disaster and was affected by toxic methyl isocyanate gas so potent it can potentially cause congenital birth defects in future generations. Used was born with a hearing impairment that meant he was still entirely non-verbal when he arrived at the Chingari clinic, even at 3 years old.

With help from the clinic’s speech therapy department, Used has developed his ability to identify and respond to sounds. Through hard work and long practice, he has learned to form the correct sounds for language and is now able to speak a few words like ‘amma’ and the names of his family members. When he arrived at Chingari Used stuck close to his mother and seemed afraid to engage with children at the clinic; he would often cry and was fully dependent on others for his daily life skills. Through specialised education classes, Used has overcome his fear and has learned to be apart from his mother and participate and get along with other children. He has also mastered key life skills including dressing himself, bathing, putting on his shoes, and combing his hair. He even sometimes helps his mother with chores around the house.

Used loves colouring and likes to have someone draw images for him so he can colour them in. His favourite outdoor activities are flying kites and playing cricket.

16/03/2026

Minsa Jalali’s Story

*To support life-changing treatment for Minsa and other children like her, visit:
https://donate.bhopal.org/

Minsa is 5 years old and has an intellectual development disability. She was born in Bhopal in an area affected by water contamination from the abandoned Union Carbide factory, the site of the 1984 gas disaster. She has been attending the Chingari children’s clinic for nearly a year, receiving occupational therapy, physiotherapy, speech therapy and special education to help with her condition.

Minsa struggles with her mobility as well as perception and sensory processing, which can be a source of frustration for her as it limits her ability to do the things she wants. She has been working with the occupational therapist to improve her orientation and balance, which combined with tailored physiotherapy exercises has allowed her to achieve independent standing, and she can walk with only a little support. Occupational therapy, and support from her class teacher, have also helped her attention and perceptual skills, and she can now participate in activities with other children. Minsa is hearing impaired and could not speak when she arrived at the clinic. With the help of auditory speech therapy training, she can now recognise a wider range of non-verbal sounds, and she has just started to speak a few words.

Minsa loves going on motorbike rides with her parents. Her mother told us her best day came last month, when Minsa was able to enter the speech therapy room on her own and greet her therapist by name, something she could not have achieved before she started treatment.

12/03/2026

Umer Khan’s Story

*To support life-changing treatment for Umer and other children like him, visit:
https://donate.bhopal.org/

Umer Khan is 9 years old and has been attending the Chingari Children’s Rehabilitation Centre in Bhopal since 2023. His grandparents on his father’s side are survivors of the1984 Union Carbide gas disaster, making him one of thousands of children to suffer generational effects from the toxic gas.

Umer has cerebral palsy, and receives a personalised care plan of physiotherapy, speech therapy, and special education. Since starting treatment Umer has made tremendous progress, learning to stand with the help of a leg brace and walk with a mobility aid. He can now use both hands to hold and carry items. In speech therapy he has progressed from speaking in single words to full phrases, and in his education classes he has learned to name fruits, vegetables, animals and colours, and count from 1 to 20 in Hindi and English. Umer’s determination has been a source of joy for his parents and therapists at Chingari.

Umer likes to socialise and has many friends at Chingari. He loves his mother’s cooking, especially daal and rice. Umer’s twin brother, Umar, is also registered for treatment at Chingari. Their mother supports them at home while their father works in retail.

The Bhopal Medical Appeal is a UK charity that cares for survivors of the world’s worst industrial disaster, the 1984 Union Carbide gas disaster in Bhopal, India. We provide free treatment for families poisoned by gas […]

09/03/2026

Fatima Begh's Story

*To support life-changing treatment for Fatima and other children like her, visit:

https://donate.bhopal.org/

Fatima is 9 years old and has quadriplegic cerebral palsy which causes seizures. She has been attending the Chingari Trust clinic in Bhopal for just under a year, receiving free physiotherapy, speech therapy, and special education. Her paternal grandfather is a survivor of the 1984 Bhopal gas disaster, and her father is a moped and motorbike mechanic. Her mother brings her to Chingari while her two brothers are at school.

Despite already being 8 years old, when Fatima arrived at Chingari she had not received the regular treatment she required to manage her condition, and she was struggling with muscles tightness in all four limbs that affected her balance, coordination, and ability to sit or stand. The physiotherapists have been working with her to ease the tightness in her muscles and increase their strength, and the results so far are encouraging. Fatima can now sit comfortably and can squat or stand with support. When she first started speech therapy Fatima could not speak, but she has now mastered proper tongue movements to form sounds and can speak a few words like ‘mama’ and ‘abba’. In her special education classes Fatima is learning to make eye contact and engage with the teacher. The educators are working with her to begin improving her fine motor skills through exercises and creative play.

Fatima’s favourite food is chick schawarma, which she calls ‘pop’. She asks her father to bring her home some ‘pop’ when he returns from work and she is very happy and excited whenever he does. She adores her two brothers and loves to play and spend time with them.

05/03/2026

Areeba Ansari's Story

*To support life-changing treatment for Areeba and other children like her, visit:

https://donate.bhopal.org/

Areeba is 2 years old and was born just a few kilometres from the abandoned Union Carbide factory in Bhopal. Her maternal grandmother is a survivor of the 1984 gas disaster and still remembers the night that a deadly toxic cloud billowed from the factory tanks and filled the narrow streets of their community. Areeba has Downs Syndrome and struggled to reach her early physical milestones, including crawling or walking. Prior to her admission to the Chingari Rehabilitation Centre, she was entirely non-verbal.

Since coming to Chingari, Areeba has started tailored programs of physiotherapy and speech therapy. In physiotherapy, her muscle strength and balance have both improved, and she learned first to crawl, then sit upright, then stand independently. After months of hard work Areeba took her first steps and can now walk on her own and manage stairs with support. In speech therapy, Areeba has gained better control of her lips and tongue movements, which have helped prevent drooling and made swallowing food easier. She has now spoken her first few words and is learning more all the time.

Areeba loves playing with other children, especially her brother Abu, who two and a half years older. She loves watching and listening to Naat Sharif on mobile phones and is not much interested in cartoons, unlike most children her age. Her mother says her happiest days were when Areeba took her first steps at the clinic, and when she went home after a speech therapy session and called her grandfather ‘daada’ (grandpa).

Supporting free medical care for the survivors of the worlds worse chemical disaster the Bhopal Gas Tragedy