Ailing tribal carried on cot by sons dies en route
A 48-year-old tribal suffering from high fever died while he was being carried on a cottoacommunityhealthcentre locatednearly5kmfromhisresidence in Telangana’s JayashankarBhupalpally district on Sunday evening.
The deceased’s family had to make the arduous trek as their tribal hamlet, Regulagudem at Komatipalli village in Mangapet block, lacks road connectivity.
MadakamJogaiah,amember of the Gothi Koya tribe, was suffering from high viral fever for the past one week. Though local healthworkersoftheKamalapur sub-centre administered basic medicaltreatment,his condition failed to improve.
Jogaiah’s condition further deteriorated on Sunday, followingwhichhissonsdecidedtotake himtothecommunityhealthcentreatEturunagaram.Asthelack of road connectivity would not permitanambulanceintothevillage, they converted Jogaiah’s bed into a makeshift stretcher that they then carried on their shoulders through the woods.
Jogaiah, however, breathed hislastmidwayandwasdeclared deadonarrivalatthehealthcentre. District medical and health officerAllemAppaiahsaidmembersoftheGothiKoyatribe,who migrated into the Eturnagaram forestfromneighbouringChhattisgarh, havebeenexistingwithout basic amenities such as elec- tricity and road connectivity. “Despite our efforts, they insist onstayingdeepintheforest.This results in lack of timely medical attention,” he said.
Appaiah said his department conductsregularmedicalcamps in tribal areas, and gives away medicines free of cost.
“However, it is difficult to provide timely treatment during emergency situations, and they areforcedtowalkseveralkilometrestoreachneighbouringhealth centres,” he added.
China strongly criticised onMonday PresidentRamNath Kovind’s visit to ArunachalPradesh,sayingSino-Indiarelations were at a “crucial moment” and NewDelhishouldnotcomplicate the dispute.
“China firmly opposes the Indian leader’s relevant activities in the relevant region,” Lu Kang, ministry of foreign affairs (MFA) spokesperson, said at a regular briefing. “The Chinese government (has) never acknowledged the so-called Arunachal Pradesh,” Lu said, respondingtoaquestionfromthe Chinese media on Kovind’s visit to the northeastern state.
China claims Arunachal Pradesh as part of south Tibet and routinely attcks India if its leaders visit the state. Barely two weeksago, Beijing hadcriticised defenceministerNirmalaSitharaman’s visit to the state.
Kovind said on Sunday if the northeast was the crown of the country,ArunachalPradeshwas the “jewel in the crown”. The Presidentwasonafour-daytour of the northeast.
On Monday, Lu launched the tirade. “China and India are in the process of settling this issue (borderdisputes) throughnegotiation andconsultation, andseek to reach a fair and reasonable solution acceptable to all. Pending final settlement all parties should work for peace and tranquillity,” Lu said.
He added, “China and India’s relationsareatacrucialmoment and we hope India could work in thesamedirectionandmaintain general picture of bilateral ties and refrain from complicating border issue.” Lu also said India should“…worktocreatefavourableconditionsforbordernegotiations and for sound and stable development of bilateral ties”.
Meanwhile, an official statement from China on last week’s borderdialoguebetweenofficials ofthe twocountriessaiditwasin the“fundamentalinterestofboth countriestomaintainthehealthy and stable development of their relationsandisalsothecommon expectation of both the region and the international community”.
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