Godavari floods | Navigating perilous paths to deliver medical services

Health staff take treacherous routes to reach out to people in flood-ravaged villages

The ongoing flood situation in the State has emerged as a challenge for health staff in the State. Several villages are inaccessible by road, thanks to overflowing brooks and streams. Wherever road access is possible, four-wheelers are put to use. At times, they have to navigate through boats. But often, the health staff are forced to take treacherous routes on foot, wading through knee-deep — and even waist-deep — water to deliver medical services. If not water, the roads are filled with slush and mud that they have to walk through to reach people in need of medical assistance.

Doctors and healthcare workers say they have their heart in the mouth while walking through overflowing torrents. Apart from the fear of being washed away, there is a threat of encountering reptiles and wild boars on their way to villages located on hilly terrains. 

Several villages have been submerged, and paths to localities have become inaccessible following unprecedented rains in the recent days, but that has only driven up the need for medical services. There is a constant threat of water-borne and vector-borne diseases such as typhoid and dengue. Besides, pregnant women and those suffering from chronic ailments need attention as they have missed out on regular health check-up appointments.  

Braving all odds, the Health department staff are travelling to vulnerable villages, carrying medicines and even holding medical camps. 

District Medical and Health Officer (DMHO) at Kumaram Bheem Asifabad, T. Prabhakar Reddy says roadways to three villages were cut due to overflowing water. “So we took a tractor to two villages and held medical camps there,” he said. What’s more, drinking water sources in the two villages were contaminated. The health staff advised the residents to boil bore water, cool and filter it before consumption. Chlorine tablets, too, were distributed.

Recently, medical teams, along with other staff of other departments, had to shift a pregnant woman from an inundated Bheebra village to a government health facility in Mancherial. Unfortunately, the baby did not survive. Condition of the mother, however, is stable.

A medical officer at Narsapur Tribal Primary Health Centre, J. Himabindu said they had to cross three brooks to conduct a medical camp at Baojipeta in Ichoda mandal of Adilabad. “Usually, the flow of water is not strong. So bikes can ply. Since there is a possibility of vehicles skidding off the road, we had to walk through the water. A few pregnant women missed their health checkups. We have provided medical services to them,” said Dr. Himabindu who travelled with two health assistants, and an Accredited Social Health Activist.