Poor road connectivity and lack of bridges across several forest streams continue to haunt tribal people inhabiting the far flung habitations in Gundala and several other Agency mandals depriving them of timely healthcare services in the current monsoon season.
Despite the wide network of 108 ambulance services spread across the district, tribal people living in remote corners of the Agency mandals are unable to access prompt emergency medical services due to unmotorable roads.
A villager of Manubothulagudem in Aswapuram mandal suffered serious injuries when a bear attacked him recently. He had to be carried in a doli (improvised stretcher made using wooden cot) to the hospital, around 10 km from the tiny tribal hamlet, by his relatives.
A similar incident was reported in Charla mandal on Tuesday. A pregnant woman of Yerrampadu gave birth to a baby boy while being carried in a doli to a hospital located over 5 km away from the forest fringe village. She had to walk a through the tough terrain for about distance along with her two relatives before reaching the motorable road point and to board an ambulance., sources said.
The two incidents have yet again brought to spotlight the ordeals being faced by tribal people living in remote tribal corners of the district due to the absence of motorable roads.
Lack of bridges across many streams such as Mallannavagu and Jalleru, a tributary of Kinnerasani river, in Gundala, Allapalli and various other Agency mandals is depriving tribal people of dozens of interior habitations of timely access to healthcare services.
More than 15 villages under Gundala Gram Panchayat remains virtually cut off from the rest of the district when Mallannavagu is in spate, pointed out Komaram Kanthaiah, Sarpanch, Gundala Gram Panchayat.
This occurs quite frequently during the peak rainy season every year, he said, deploring that around eight persons had drowned in Mallannavagu in separate incidents while trying to cross the swollen stream in the past decade.
We have submitted a number of petitions to the authorities for construction of a bridge across Mallannavagu, but to no avail, he rued.
