‘Scars run too deep, life still a big challenge for victims, their kin’

Six years after the terror attacks crippled Mumbai, wounds remain fresh for countless faces, with survivors continuing to face injustice owing to lapses in the healthcare and recovery mechanism of the state.

Highlighting the major impediments in the recovery process, besides stressing on the physical and psychological hardships that victims and their families continue to undergo, the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) had submitted a detailed report to the previous chief minister.

“… Most hospitals prioritised physical healthcare and considered psychological well-being secondary. Due to stigma attached to mental health issues, distressed survivors of 26/11 did not feel the need to go to a psychiatrist, but preferred counsellors outside mental health institutions and general practitioners, who prescribed anti-anxiety or anti-depressents,” says the report.

Sidelining these dimensions, the TISS report says, has caused long-term psychological distress for survivors and families. One survivor recounted being “troubled not knowing how to bring one’s dead sibling home without a thread of cloth on her”.

Kanchan Kanojia, the 26/11 project officer at TISS, asks if recovery can be limited to any set period. “The answer is no. Sheikh was given skill training and he started working. But one shrapnel is still lodged in his leg. He is in pain and cannot stand or concentrate for long hours and has now stopped working. His wife, Hawa Begum, has started working and is managing the family.”

With families of survivors or victims also requiring psycho-social support, the scope of interventions by the state must be broadened beyond just a medical response, Kanojia adds.

The report cites instances of survivors feeling traumatised by the ward environment and seeking discharge against medical advice. Other survivors complained of not being changed regularly or not being helped for basic necessities.

The TISS team found that issues in the immediate aftermath included inadequate residential addresses in hospital and government records, making it difficult to track survivors for further assistance; absence of any residential facility for family members; lack of proper follow-up services leading to worsening of disabilities and private hospitals refusing to provide follow-up treatment in the absence of any government support for future surgical procedures.

Survivor Lalji Pandey, for instance, had to give up his painting job as he could not move his wrist any more. Pandey’s case was more difficult as he is a migrant. “No special arrangements were made for their stay and most of their compensation amount was spent on travel,” Kanojia added.

The report also cites concerns over VVIP visits and the running of a ward during such times as well as long-term issues such as delays in issuing disability certificates leading to denial of free transportation, discriminatory attitude towards 26/11 victims in the hospital and absence of continuity of services.

Kanojia points to financial crises caused by injury or death with the victims’ dependents suddenly unable to maintain quality of life, investment in children’s education and more. “Impact on children’s education was a significant blow on the family’s aspiration or hope for a better future. All this contributed to significant psychological distress,” says the report.

For instance, Guddidevi Kushwaha, who hails from Deoria district in Uttar Pradesh, was suddenly confronted with a host of responsibilities after her husband, an auto-rickshaw driver in Mumbai, was killed in 26/11. Soon after his death, Guddidevi went to Varanasi to work.

mihika.basu@expressindia.com