Indigenous tribes staying away from hospitals during treatment fearing injections and drips
Medical officers from government hospital and Indian Medical Association talk to tribes in the Masinagudi adivasi colony during an interactive programme aimed at reducing the incidence of tuberculosis.
Masinakudi: The multi crore national tuberculosis project is battling superstition and facing resistance from tribals in the hilly terrain of the Nilgiris district. With indigenous tribes staying away from hospitals during treatment fearing injections and drips, health workers are now reworking their strategy to ensure the programme penetrates to the hamlets.“Some of them, who often prefer the traditional rituals before the forest deity Maasini amman over treatment, discard tablets only to die after spreading the infections to their school-going children and productive youngsters,” said Indian Medical Association technical consultant Dr Ganga Mallan of the Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme (RNTCP).
Siriyur Irula village and Masinakudi adivasi colony in Nilgiris is now zeroed in on as there were two recent deaths of TB after patients discontinued their prescribed medicine. Also, a family at Siriyur lost three of its members to TB including 10-year-old Nithish this January.Another victim, 28-year-old Kutty, who had escaped twice from government hospitals, also died three months back after spreading the infection to his sister, who is now under medication. “Strong communication and counseling is essential for making the tribes understand that medicine is the only solution for their cure and most of them practice rituals for ailments,” said Dr Ganga.
Despite speaking the local Badaga language with them, some of the tribals do not get convinced for treatment, hence mobile medical officers are dispatched and cases where TB patients escape from hospitals continue. “We are planning to collect sputum samples from both the villages to monitor those susceptible for TB infections and the local government medical officers have been instructed to periodically visit the tribal villages to prevent TB deaths”, Dr Ganga added.
“My son Kutti, who worked as a driver found it difficult to continue the injections and the treatment was painful for him, so he avoided medication and died three months back,” said Ms Bellama Basuvaraju. When contacted, Nilgiris district collector P. Sankar said such cases were periodically discussed during the monthly meetings. Mobile doctors and NGO with medical facilities were periodically dispatched to reach the rural public and the tribes. “There is a hospital for tribals at Gudalur, ACC ORD (Action for Community Organisation, Rehabilitation and Development), but at times the patients do not co-operate, we will further intensify our medical drive and local doctors will be consulted to improve the scenario,” the collector said.
Next Story
