Kozhikode: It’s a Herculean task for officials of the district medical office in Malappuram to vaccinate the Cholanaickan against the Kyasanur forest disease (KFD), for it will take 12 hours to reach them in the deep forests. The 350-odd members of the tribe are settled in the Karulayi interior forests of New Amarambalam south forest reserve.
As the trip to the rock shelters of the tribes is arduous, the medical team has to spend a night with the Cholanaickan in the rock caves. “We have vaccinated 39 people during the two trips to their dwellings,” said deputy DMO Dr K.M. Noona Marja, who led the medical team.
It was one-and-a-half years back that the KFD was reported among the Cholanaickan. Since then, five positive cases were reported, of whom two died, though it was not officially recorded. “According to the custom of Cholanaickan, they never go near a dead body. So the deaths were not reported,” confided a health worker.
The Cholanaickan will meet the government officials every Wednesday at the base camp in Manjeri to collect their quota of ration and other provisions. But only elder men will come for this.
Once the officials informed them of the vaccination, the tribesmen asked the officials to come to their dwellings. “After the jeep journey, the route to the forest will take seven hours’ walk, with three streams to cross,” said Mr Aji Anand, junior health officer at Karulayi PHC, who was part of the team. The next trip to the forest has been scheduled on May 18.
