VISNEWS DELHI:

LV & GVs Bhopal plant (4 shots)

GV & SVs UK Doctor Malcolm Kerr-Muir leaves aircraft (2 shots)

SV & CU Medical equipment on luggage trolley (2 shots)

GV EXTERIOR Hospital where patients being treated

GV State Minister at hospital with UK and Indian specialists

CU & SVs Patients with doctors looking on (3 shots)

CU Dr. Kerr-Muir speaking (ENGLISH SOT)

Background: An international medical team has been helping local hospital services fight the after-effects of the Bhopal gas plant disaster in which at least 2,000 people were killed. A leak at the ga plant, owned by an Indian subsidiary of the US multinational company Union Carbide, caused the death of over 2,000 people and serious injuries to many thousands more. Doctors were trying to relieve the patients who crowd the town's hospitals complaining of lung and chest problems and eye irritation. Doctor Malcolm Kerr-Muir, of the Moorfields Eye Hospital in London, arrived in Bhopal on December 10 to lead the effort to save the sight of victims. After a courtesy visit to the chief Minister in Madhya Pradesh state, Doctor Kerr-Muir toured wards in the town's hospital and described the suffering he saw as most disturbing. He told reporters he was concerned about the possible long-term effects of the gas on the sight of patients. Compensation claims against Union Carbide were being filed by a team of US lawyers and it was expected that individuals would be represented as well as the state. U.S. lawyer Melvie Belie, one of the legal team coordinating the claim, said that the level of the compensation should be in the "billions". He added that people had lost their families and their homes and that there was "nothing that could really compensate" for that.