The feel of the stethoscope around her neck after more than a couple of years was familiar yet exciting for Sub-Collector Divya S. Iyer during a visit to Vithura on Sunday.
Ms. Iyer, a physician before becoming embarking on a bureaucratic career, was at a few tribal settlements to take part in a medical camp along with a team from the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) here.
The camp was held as part of Unnat Bharat Abhiyan, a Union government programme for rural uplift launched in association with institutions such as IITs, NITs, and IISERs.
Nearly 200 people from the Chathancode, Chemmankala, and Valiakala settlements reached the camp. Of them, 110 had registered as patients, while the rest were accompanying them or had come to meet the Sub-Collector.
The patients reported various health problems, such as joint pain, caused by what looked like rheumatoid arthritis. Then there were cataract cases. A young woman had a skin disease that was pervasive but she had not seen a doctor for it. But what surprised Ms. Iyer the most was coming across cases of hypertension. “One does expect to see this in a tribal area. Some of the people even said that their parents died of it,” Ms. Iyer says.
After the camp, a forest rights committee meeting was held. Ms. Iyer found that the tribal people were not aware of their forest rights, which among other things, allowed them entry into the forests to forage for produce such as honey. “Nothing much had happened in the area of forest rights here in years. As none of them had applied for the certificate for this, forms for the same were distributed,”she said.
Though they lacked access to various amenities, the tribespeople were very aware of things happening around them, she found. They knew about environmental issues, and complained about the impact of tourism on forests – plastics bags and bottles left strewn about, trees being cut.
“It was good to see that. One of the women even remembered Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Nalini Netto’s visit there years ago,” Ms. Iyer recounts.
The loss of their traditional way of life is something that Ms. Iyer is concerned about. “Their traditional ways of occupation, healing, farming and so on were eco-friendly and should not be lost. I have asked the IISER to research and consolidate data on their traditional knowledge,” she said.
Ms. Iyer, who also made time to soak in the pristine beauty of the place, says she wants to hold medical camps for people in various tribal settlements every month.
