Kudumula Anjamma from a remote Nekkanti Chenchugudem in deep Nallamalla forests developed labour pains well before the date fixed by doctors for delivery.
With no motorable road, her husband and brother carried her in a makeshift ‘doli’ to the nearest hospital some 45 km from her habitation at the dead of night. The health worker, K. Madhavi Latha not only delivered the baby safely but also arranged for alternate clothes and food for them before they returned to their habitation in the interior forests.
It is not just Anjamma who has experienced the warmth of the auxiliary nurse midwife (ANM), but also hundreds of other tribal patients who have been treated in over a decade now.
Receives award
Some of the tribal persons are so innocent that they don’t sleep below a ceiling fan fearing that it may fatally fall on them. “All the medicines may not be available in a particular time. They quite often come at the 11th hour without any clothes for changing,” she explains after receiving the Best Health Worker award instituted by the Junior Chambers International here on Saturday night.
The situation is no different in the over 70-plus habitations of the Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG) in Prakasam district.
The tribal persons share the space with wild animals, including big cats, in the Nagarjunasagar-Srisailam Tiger Reserve and eke out a living through collection of forest produce and bamboo cutting. They are frequently attacked by, among other animals, sloth bears, scorpions and snakes, she explains while recounting grievous injuries caused to a Chenchu man near Ponalababilu Chenchgudem during her one of her visits to remote Chenchugudems coming under the Palutla Public Health Centre(PHC).
“Though I was able to save him, many a times they fail as the patients are brought belatedly after a long trek through the most difficult terrain,” explains Madhavi Latha attached to Ganjivaripalli sub-centre. They miss the the golden hour for medical officers to provide a new lease of life, she explains in a conversation with The Hindu .
It is equally tough for the medical team to visit the 18 Chenchugudems with the PHC limit as the jeep carry them break down quite often forcing us to walk miles through the tough terrain, she explains.
Wild animals
Their woes are manifold as the chances of the medical team personnel getting attacked by wild animals are very high . Most of the jungle streams will be in spate, compounding their woes in providing medical assistance to the tribal persons who live in sparsely populated habitations located far and wide, she adds.
They literally have no access to safe drinking water as they quench their thirst from natural springs or rivulets. When they are in full flow water may not be a problem. But the water woes accentuates especially during summer in the wake of prolonged dry spell, she adds.
