Edamalakudy tribals walk over 40 km to find a doctor

KOTTAYAM: The condition of the Muthuvan tribal community at the Edamalakudy tribal panchayat near Munnar is worse than that in Odisha's Kalahandi district where a tribal man had to walk 10 km carrying the body of his wife in the absence of a vehicle to transport it the other day. The 2,886-member Muthuvans have to walk over 40 km through the Munnar reserve forest to reach a place where a vehicle is available to carry a patient to the nearest hospital in Munnar where treatment facilities are available.

The primary health centre at Edamalakudy has only two nurses and no permanent doctor. It lacks the facilities to admit patients. The settlement residents had given a memorandum to the then minister P.K. Jayalakshmi in 2011 demanding a ten-bed hospital with a doctor. But no action has been taken so far. Only once in a week, a doctor visits the tribal settlement. In case of an emergency, the tribes people have to physically carry the patients braving adverse climate and wild animals.

Recently, Vellaswamy, a tribal from Keezthappankudy, who suffered a stroke, was taken to the hospital at Munnar. By the time the people reached there with him, his health condition had deteriorated and he died. "To reach Pettimudy, where a vehicle is available, the tribals have to walk the whole day. At least 20 persons are needed to carry a patient by turn," said Mr Muralidharan, a single school teacher at the tribal settlement.