VIJAYAWADA: A four-member HRF fact finding team, which visited Rampachodavaram Agency Area including Chaparai village in East Godavari district on June 28 and 29, has found that the reason for the 16 deaths in Chaparai between May 30 and June 22 was not food poisoning alone as claimed by the State government.
The HRF claimed that Malaria prevalent in the agency region also played its part in the deaths. A total 16 tribals had died in Chaparai in the first three weeks of June. Human Rights Foundation (HRF) general secretary V S Krishna, in a press release on Sunday, explained that the State government is trying to conceal the reality that malarial epidemic is sweeping across the V schedule region stretching from Paderu division in Visakhapatnam to Rampachodavaram and Cintur Agency Areas of East Godavari.
“The State government claimed that the tribals died after eating rotten meat at a marriage function and drinking contaminated water from a local hill stream. This is clearly not the case,” he said.
According to him, malaria is rampant in the area and the 24 out of the 30 tribals shifted to hospitals in Rampachodavaram tested positive for malaria. There should have been a anti-malarial measures in the agency areas, which did not happen. Further, medical and health department, right from the minister to district health officials, continue to lie about the cause of the deaths.
The fact that it took more than three weeks for the officials in the districts to find out that deaths were occurring in Chaparai clearly shows the lack of proper infrastructure, neglect of not taking minimum anti-malarial operations like alphacypermethrin anti-larval spraying and distribution of mosquito nets. Ignoring the fact that groundwater is contaminated only shows the degree of the official negligence, HRF said.
The HRF team also found that there was no community health worker in the village since 2007 and no regular multi-person health assistant (ANM) since May 24 after the existing Auxiliary Nurse Midwife was transferred.
One ANM and one Multi Purpose Health Assistant (MPHA - male) have been burdened with the jurisdiction of 24 villages in the area which is a hilly and difficult terrain. The deaths could have been avoided if there was a community health worker or at least two fully functional ANMS and MPHAs. In spite of being aware of the situation, no steps were initiated by the government, it alleged.
Krishna alleged that the government is consistently trying to play down the extent of the crisis, wilfully misrepresenting cause of the deaths and resorting to temporary ad hoc measures. “All that the administration seems to be doing is drawing up contingency plans and putting out statements of Intent. Very little is being done on the ground,” he said. HRF leader stressed the need for doubling up the existing medical and health staff in the V Schedule region on a permanent basis.