A race against time: Telangana district officials go all out to get tribals vaccinated

HYDERABAD: Districts in Telangana with tribal populations are pushing the envelope to get the vulnerable masses vaccinated at the earliest and have a robust line of defence against Covid-19.  “We have been organising trucks in each of the far-flung villages like Vajedu, Tadvai and Medaram to bring in citizens to the Primary Health Centres (PHCs). To enable this, right from the village sarpanch to the panchayat secretary to the mandal revenue officer is involved to assign the tractors. We are ensuring that all people, from youngsters to the aged, come in the tractors,” said Dr Venkateshwar, Deputy District Medical & Health Officer (DMHO), Eturunagaram  ​Integrated Tribal Development Agency area (ITDA). 

They have particularly been working in Mulugu district, where nearly 2 lakh-plus population resides in rural areas and forests from where access to healthcare facilities becomes an issue. In other districts like Asifabad and Adilabad, “Rai Centers” are becoming the nodal outreach centres for the government. “Rai Centers are the best way to target change. We are mobilising the tribal leaders here and making them aware of the importance of vaccinations,” said Dr K Balu, Asifabad DMHO.

ITDA Utnoor Project Officer IAS Bhavesh Mishra further explains, “The Patel leaders are important figures and the line through which any government project can be implemented. We have, to date, in ITDA Utnoor area tried to vaccinate 70-75 per cent of them to ensure that others come forward seeing them.”
In other districts, officials are building trust with help of elected MPs and MLAs from tribal communities.

“We have had meetings with elected leaders and with ITDA authorities to first mobilise and then launch the vaccines. The goal is to slowly win their trust in this form of medicine and avoid adverse events which can fracture this trust. At present, we are being given a target of 100 vaccines per PHC and we are achieving 90 per cent of the target,” added Dr Vijay Sarathi, District Immunization Officer, Adilabad.