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Tribals in the Godavari region go to great lengths to call for an ambulance in the absence of mobile phone networks and poor road connectivity
Tribals in the Godavari region go to great lengths to call for an ambulance in the absence of mobile phone networks and poor road connectivity
Atop the Kakavadi Gandi hill located in the core area of the Papikonda National Park, a couple of tribals can be found round the clock, who are there to send a distress call for an ambulance in case of a health emergency in the tribal habitations downhill.
The hilltop is the only spot within a 15-km radius in the region, spread across Devipatnam and Rampachodavaram mandals in ASR district, to have a faint mobile phone signal strength. There are at least 18 tribal habitations in the vicinity of the hill, all of which have no mobile phone connectivity. The habitations, home to the Konda Dora and Valmiki tribes, take turns deploying villagers to the hilltop to make distress calls for an ambulance.
“This is the only place from where we send out an alert for an ambulance, be it for an impending birth or death,” said a villager requesting not to be named fearing reprisal from the Maoists who hold sway in the area.
On the Andhra Pradesh-Chhattisgarh State border, the 25-km stretch of forest cover between Edugurallapalli and Pungutta village is a block of nearly 25-30 habitations of Koya and Gutti Koyas. Pungutta is the last village on the Andhra Pradesh side.
“Everything was in place for the laying of a road to Pungutta. However, it had to be halted due to objections raised by the Forest Department”, a social activist told The Hindu. In this Maoist heartland, the existing road is not motorable enough for any kind of ambulance — be it the 108 or 104 ambulances or the Talli Bidda Express vehicles which are meant exclusively to come to the aid of pregnant women.
Unmotorable roads
The condition of roads is a huge worry in remote areas of the district.
“We have a sufficient number of ambulances under the Chintoor and Rampachodavaram Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA). However, the existing road conditions and lack of telecommunication networks are prime challenges in our quest to provide ambulance services to the needy,” says Dr. Jameel Basha, ASR District Medical and Health Officer.
“We can significantly bring down maternal and infant mortality if pregnant women could get quick access to ambulance services,” Dr. Basha observes.
As many as 21 ambulances including seven Talli-Bidda Express services are available in the Rampachodavaram ITDA limits. In Chintoor Agency, 11 ambulances are available of which three are Talli-Bidda Express services.
On the other hand, the Konda Reddy and Koya tribes complain of poor services of the ‘feeder ambulances’, which are two-wheelers designed to reach the interior areas with limited road access. In the Maoist-hit Agency, improved penetration of mobile phone networks and laying of motorable roads remain a challenge to be addressed in order to ensure emergency medical services to the tribes in the Godavari region.
At present, a patient in need of emergency medical care is carried by fellow villagers on makeshift palanquins called ‘dolis’ to the nearest road point from where the patient is taken to hospital by an ambulance.