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Tuberculosis deaths haunt Attappady infants |
Reji Joseph
Kottayam: Death on account of Tuberculosis and malnutrition continues to
haunt the tribal hamlet of the
remote tribal regions Attapady hills, in Palakkad of Northern Kerala. Over
the last 15 months as many as
hundred more infants have reportedly died here, allegedly due to
malnutrition. It was found that most of the
babies and mothers were infected TB too. Lack of proper treatment and
medicines are the major reasons
behind the vast spread of TB in Attappady hills.
The Attappady tribes have already been marginalised and if these serious
health problems are not tackled on
a war footing there is a probability of them becoming extinct in the long
run.
These secluded tribal live in small, remote hamlets built inside the
forests. They have no land, agriculture or
labour. Moreover, these hapless folk have no drinking water, roads or
electricity. The men and women
earned their livelihood by collecting honey and products of wild trees and
crops.
There is no separate TB treatment ward in any of the Government Hospitals
in Palakkadu district. Many of
the tribal families are seeking treatment at Coimbatore and Pollachi in
Tamil Nadu State, traveling 40 kilometers
through the mud roads far away from their settlement. The ASHA health
volunteers of the colonies informed
that the interaction of the kids studying in the Anganwady care centers,
which were unhygienic would be a
major cause behind the spread of Tuberculosis. Within the last six months,
12 tribal kids died of Tuberculosis
and poverty in the tribal colonies of North Kadampara, South Kadampara,
Nellippathy and Paloor. Even
after the sad death of the kids, the State Health Deparment doesnt take any
necessary action for securing
the adivasi welfare.
The 827 square km Attappadi Reserve Forest is an informal buffer zone which
is situated in the Northern
side of Palakkadu district. Irular, Mudugar and Kattunaika primitives are
the dominant tribal people living
in the remote area. It is clear that 80 percent of the settlers are facing
shortage of nutricious food, pure
drinking water and proper sanitation facilities. Due to the unhygienic
situation Tuberculosis is alarmingly
spreading in the adjacent huts.
As per the tribal welfare department the state government is spending 110
crores for securing the welfare of
the tribals. But the fact is that the government officials and
intermediaries are misusing these huge funds for
their own welfare. The noon meals programme started in the Anganwadies were
also an utter failure.
It is
clear that 55-66 per cent children in this area did not have access
supplementary nutrition programmes
being implemented under the Integrated Child Development Service (ICDS) of
the Social Welfare Department.
“Sickle Cell Anemia, Tuberculosis and Thalassaemmia are rampant among this
tribal population. Recently
three children were admitted for pre-mature birth at our hospital,” said Dr
Rajesh, Chief Medical Officer of
the Kottathara Tribal Specialty Hospital. “We are planning to distribute
food prepared by Kudumbasree, a
women’s voluntary organization at health camps. Some did not like the
flavours of the food supplements
distributed to pregnant woman and children through the health centers
earlier. So we will be changing the
flavours,” said District Medical Officer, Dr. Venugopal.
The government was only announcing special packages from time to time and
holding meetings of officials
occasionally. Nothing beneficial has come about as a result of this.
The
death of tribal infants came out in a
survey conducted by the primary health centre in three village panchayats
of Attappady. Of the 16 infants
that died, 11 were born underweight. Others who were born with normal
weight, soon lost weight and died.
One of the infants had weighed only 650 grams at the time of birth.
A recent survey conducted by the Tribal Welfare Department in the tribal
hamlets of Puthur colony, found
that 300 tribals had been affected by malnutrition and 200 of them were
children. Another study conducted
by Swami Vivekananda Medical Mission, identified 429 cases of Anemia among
tribal children in Attappady.
Meanwhile, a sample survey conducted by the Health Department in 50 tribal
hamlets out of the 176 in the
three Grama Panchayats of Agali, Pudur and Sholayir of Attappady found that
520 infants there were affected
by Anemia and Tuberculosis.
In spite of all this, no visible steps have been taken by the government to
provide essentially needed medical
assistance and food to these deprived tribal children from malnourishment
and Tuberculosis.
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