This pregnant tribal travels 140 km to get help

Rajahmundry: Lack of doctors and short supply of blood has forced an 8-month pregnant tribal woman in East Godavari Agency area to travel for four days covering over 140 km before she could get some medical help.

This is the situation in Koonavaram, Chintur, V R Puram and Yetapaka mandals, which were merged into Andhra Pradesh after bifurcation. The government is turning a blind eye on the health of the tribals, particularly in the merged mandals.

Twentyone-year-old Madakam Palamma of Sali Budapa village in Yetapaka mandal fell ill in her eighth month of pregnancy due to severe anaemia. Her family took her to Gowridevi Peta Primary Health Centre on November 28. After providing primary treatment at the PHC, she was referred to Bhadrachalam area hospital in Khammam district which is 20 kilometres away.

The health situation in the East Godavari agency mandals is very precarious. The number of anaemic cases is increasing due to lack of nutritious food and proper medication

Due to non-availability of A Negative blood group in the hospital, staff of the Gowridevi Peta PHC told her family members to take her to Rampa Chodavaram area hospital in the East Godavari district which is 140 kilometres away. She had to travel on the dangerous ghat road via Maredumili protected forest.

The doctors who examined her at Rampachodavaram told her family members that her hemoglobin levels had fallen. They asked them to take her to Rajahmundry general hospital since no gynecologist was available in the hospital. They also did not have A negative blood with them.

The travails of Palamma did not end here. The doctors at Rajahmundry General Hospital referred her to Kakinada Government Hospital citing non-availability of A Negative blood. After knowing that there is no stock of A Negative blood even in the Kakinada hospital, social activists from an NGO purchased blood from a private blood bank and the treatment started.

There is one area hospital, four community health centers, 26 PHCs and 142 health sub-centres in 11 mandals of East Godavari agency. Though the government propagates that deliveries should take place in government hospitals it does not bother about providing facilities. None of these health centres have any basic facilities and most of the pregnant women from the tribal areas are referred to either Rajahmundry or Kakinada general hospitals.

Agriculture and Social Development Society (ASDS) director Gandhi Babu wondered where the funds earmarked for the tribals were going. “The health situation in the East Godavari agency mandals is very precarious. The number of anaemic cases is increasing due to lack of nutritious food and proper medication,” he said. It is not easy for tribal pregnant women to travel hundreds of kilometres on ghat roads in the forest areas, he observed.