COVID-19/FRONTLINE
Soon after the lockdown was imposed, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare released a facilitator guide for training of health frontline functionary on coronavirus response and containment. The National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj has also launched e-learning portal Gramswaraj to help panchayats fight the crisis. But very few appear to have benefitted from these. Most community health workers Down To Earth (DTE) interacted with are braving coronavirus with a cloth wrapped around their face and a soap in their bag.
In Tamil Nadu, which restricted interstate movement of vehicles and labourers even before the country entered total
In Kerala’s Kannur district, women groups under the poverty eradication mission Kudumbashree have set up community kitchens to ensure that no one goes hungry during the lockdown
lockdown, ASHA workers guard the border. While the police ensures that vehicles carrying only essential goods cross checkposts, ASHA workers screen the suspected passengers and disinfect the vehicles.
K Malarvizhy, a health worker on duty near Kerala border at Thenkasi, says the situation was alarming till the lockdown came into force. Every day, we had to scan numerous trucks transporting vegetables from Kerala and a minimum of 25 buses returning with about 1,000 migrant workers. “Now that the movement has reduced, we feel a lot safer,” she says, dressed in a protective suit. But Malarvizhy is among the lucky few in this long and messy battle against coronavirus.
Prabhavathi, an ASHA worker from Kanakapura locality near Bengaluru,
workers, Kudumbashree volunteers, anganwadi workers, hospital development committee members, palliative volunteers and other health activists.
The role of community health workers assumes special significance in regions where difficult terrain or poor roads and infrastructure hinder access to healthcare and welfare benefits. One such region is Nuapada. Located in the semi-arid western parts of Odisha, the district is infamous for distress migration. Unofficial estimates show that in 2018 some 128,000 people had migrated to other states due to lack of financial resources and work. So when Kamla Tandi, an anganwadi worker of Mundosil village, got to know that coronavirus is gripping various states, chills ran down her spine. Soon, she heard that 15 youths who had migrated to Mumbai in January last year had returned to the village. Fearing that the youths might have contracted the disease, Tandi rushed to their houses accompanied by ASHA worker Subhashini Pan. “Thirteen of them are from Mundosil, while two are from the nearby Chachrabhata hamlet. We noted down their names and enquired about their health. Since one youth had cold and was sneezing, we advised all of them to stay indoors,” recalls Tandi. Their next step was to inform the village sarpanch and the community health centre (CHC) at Khariar block.
The youths, however, did not abide by their advice. Tandi, who has been working at Mundosil for close to 30 years now, says, “We repeatedly requested them to stay isolated but their parents abused us saying the youths are in perfect health. We did not take it to heart. Doctors at the CHC have trained us how to stay calm during such situations.”
In neighbouring Badi village, migrant labourers have also returned home following the lockdown. “Though the youths are living in self-isolation, doctors have asked me to keep tight vigil on them,”