NAGPUR: Carrying his three-year-old malaria-infected daughter on his shoulders, a tribal man waded waist-deep through two flooded nullahs on the foothills of the Maoist headquarters of Abujmarh in Gadchiroli to reach the last primary health centre (PHC) of Laheri, 7 km away in the remote Bhamragarh taluka near Chhattisgarh border.
The entire Bhamragarh region was flagged as an “endemic zone” for plasmodium falciparum malaria by Maharashtra govt.
The tribal, Pandu Jetti, trekked 3 km with his daughter, Ravina, from his Bangadi village on the fringes of Abujmarh to reach the twin nullahs outside his hamlet and then navigated the fierce flow of Gundenoor and Bangadi nullahs, which cut off the region from Gadchiroli district during the monsoons. Pandu, whose village is located beyond Laheri, the last police post of Maharashtra, travelled another 4 km to reach the PHC.
Sources said construction agencies are yet to complete proposed bridges on the nullahs, also part of the missing link of the highway connecting Gadchiroli with Chhattisgarh.
Dr Sambhaji Bhokare, medical officer in charge of Laheri PHC, who is also infected with malaria, said Ravina is responding well to treatment.
“She came with her father on July 13 with a very high fever. We detected plasmodium falciparum with a rapid testing kit. As per district administration guidelines, I referred her to Bhamragarh rural hospital, but her father refused to go there. I offered to let her stay at Laheri PHC, but they left against our advice,” said Dr Bhokare, adding that he had alerted the taluka health officer about the infant and shared information with prominent social workers. “I stabilised the girl before she was taken away,” the doctor said.
Dr Bhokare, who has been serving in Laheri for six years, said some prominent villagers from Laheri, like Laxmikant Bogami and Nana Bhandekar, intervened to convince Pandu to come back to the PHC. “The father-daughter duo returned home late evening after crossing the flooded nullahs again,” he said, adding there have been no malaria deaths at Laheri for two years despite high incidence of the disease.
Bogami, a social worker, told TOI that Pandu took his daughter away from the PHC as he did not wish to trek another 18 km to Bhamragarh hospital. “Agencies like PWD, which was supposed to construct a bridge on Bangadi river, and NHAI, which started a project on Gundenoor nullah, should expedite their projects as there can be fatalities in marooned villages during monsoon,” Bogami said.
