Covid hits tribal hamlets in Capital

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The rise in the number of Covid-19 cases in the tribal settlements in the Capital is becoming a huge concern for the authorities. Mutant variants of the virus are spreading like wildfire in the tribal and rural areas of the district. Several families in the hamlets are left in the lurch as home isolation or room isolation is impractical for them. According to natives of tribal settlements, the local authorities and health authorities are not helping them to isolate positive cases. 

Sobhana B V, who is from Narakithankala settlement near Kallar in Vithura panchayat said she was tested positive around four days back. She is one of the 11 people, who contracted the virus in her area.
 “Room isolation is not an option for people like us. Most of us live in single-room homes and the entire family of the patient has to go for quarantine. 13 families in my area had to go on quarantine.

There are small children and elderly people. The health authorities gave us a few masks and medicines. They should isolate positive cases so that the disease doesn’t spread. Now families are getting locked up and they are receiving no help,” she added. 

Currently, there are around 180 active cases in the Vithura area and according to the health authorities, the main reason for the spread is because the patients took part in funeral gatherings. They added that the cases are likely to go up further in the coming days. According to Sobhana, shopkeepers are refusing to sell groceries and other essential supplies to the affected families adding more problems for them. 

“We have requested the health authorities to test people under quarantine immediately. Getting transportation is hard for us and it takes hours and days to get transportation to a hospital. Many of them are symptomatic and are scared,” said Sobhana. Around 6,800 families are living across 240 tribal settlements in the district. 

The demand for more medical infrastructure, including Covid First-Line Treatment Centres and Domiciliary Care Centres for isolating patients from tribal areas are increasing with each passing day. According to authorities, home isolation or room isolation is impractical for these families. 

“Now we are trying to move the other family members to their relatives’ place. But it is not always practical. We are forcefully transporting the patient to the nearest CFLTC or DCC. The problem is there is no CFLTC in Vithura panchayat and we are depending on other facilities, which are far away. Helping these patients on time is proving to be difficult as some of the settlements are in remote places,” said an official of the health department. 

Vaccination not a priority
Vaccination and testing is the only way to contain the aggressive second wave. But increasing vaccine coverage among the tribal population is not on the priority list of the authorities. Mass vaccination drives and camps are happening only in the city and other rural areas. Apart from the launch of the outreach programme on a pilot basis at a couple of tribal settlements, nothing has happened on the ground to date. 

“Ever since the vaccine shortage happened the outreach programme got halted. We have to go to them to vaccinate them as people in the settlements are hesitant to go to hospitals. Many of them want vaccines but the authorities have suspended spot registration. They don’t have smartphones or computers to do online registration for getting the vaccine. We have asked the local bodies to help them with online registration,” said an official from the health department. According to officials of the Tribal Department, a letter has been sent to the District Medical Officer (DMO) and the district collector regarding the need for a comprehensive vaccination programme for the area. 

“We have given a letter requesting the authorities to conduct vaccination drives in these areas. Cases are spreading and they need more CFLTCs. We have identified a couple of locations for starting CFLTCs. The local bodies should step up and we will extend our full support to them,” said A Rahim, district project officer at the Tribal Department. “We have taken the steps to supply medicines and food for the Covid-19 affected families. The family members are also under threat of contracting the infection as many patients may not follow the protocol,” added Rahim.

Pandemic grips the district

Active case distribution  (As of April 27)

3,210  new cases  
18,553 active cases
12,993 under home isolation
693 at hospitals
1,583 at public health care institutions 
1,075 at private hospitals 

ICU and ventilator Occupancy in the dist
ICU beds at government hospitals - 156
Occupied - 136
ICU beds at private hospitals - 139
Occupied -114
Ventilator in government hospitals - 94 
Occupied- 79
Ventilator in private hospitals - 35 
Occupied -13

Last week in numbers
95,034 tests 
16,076 cases 
35 deaths
TPR: 16.9% 
Cumulative stats 
1,34,967 Cases
1,15,449 Recoveries
965 Deaths
Vaccination status
6,71,455 received at least one dose
1,35,994 received both doses

The 6,800 families  living in 240 settlements are left in the lurch as mutant variants of Covid-19 is spreading like wildfire in tribal hamlets in the capital. Little efforts are being taken by the health authorities to isolate positive cases. With home isolation becoming impossible, the need for more medical infrastructure is increasing with each passing day