KOCHI: Heavy rain, rugged terrain or fear of the pandemic did not deter them.
A team of health officers, with the support of the panchayat led by a tribal woman, have set an example for the state which is still struggling to control the Covid spread.
They reached the 14 colonies located deep in the forest, conducted mass testing, shifted all who tested positive to Covid care centres and deployed forest watchers to monitor adherence to Covid protocol.
And the result is evident, Kuttampuzha has beaten the biggest Covid spread in state’s tribal areas.
The Covid test positivity rate (TPR) that stood at 62% in the tribal belt, dropped to 5% within a span of just 30 days.
Kuttampuzha panchayat in Ernakulam — with a population of 26,771 people, including 4,304 tribal people — has recorded 2,084 Covid cases till date, of which 688 are in tribal areas.
The tribal belt reported only 46 cases in 2020 but witnessed 642 cases during the past six months.
As many as 269 people tested positive in the tribal hamlets in June alone as a funeral, marriage and a temple festival turned super spreader.
The panchayat reported 361 active cases on June 11, of which 292 were from the tribal belt. Of the 292 cases, 278 were from Kunchipara and Thalavachapara colonies.
As the tribal population is a closed community, the panchayat and health officials swung into action and held a mass testing drive.
All tribal people who tested positive were shifted to various domiciliary care centres and First-Line Treatment Centres in the neighbouring areas.
The government also accorded sanctions to vaccinate all tribal people above 18 years.
The panchayat, health, forest and tribal welfare departments joined hands and vaccinated 2,510 people within three days.
All these efforts helped bring down the TPR and the tribal area has become a safe zone now.
There were only 23 active cases in the tribal area on July 3.
However, as a precautionary measure, no outsider is allowed to enter the area.
“Conducting Covid testing and vaccination drive was a tough challenge as the tribal colonies are located miles apart in the deep forest and also due to poor road connectivity. Reaching the tribal hamlets passing through the rugged terrain was a tough challenge. It was raining heavily and we had to push the four-wheel drive SUV through the steep and muddy roads. It took over 5 hours to reach the colonies at Varyiam, Mappilapara and Meenkulam,” said medical officer Dr Anoop Thulasi.
The biggest challenge was to convince the tribal people who were afraid of testing and accepting the vaccine.
“The tribal people had misconceptions about testing. They were misguided by rumours that the samples are taken from the brain through the nose. We had to educate them. It was the intervention of elected members, tribal promoters and Asha workers that helped convince the tribesmen. Once they were convinced, the tribal people cooperated wholeheartedly with our efforts. Importantly, there was not a single Covid death in the tribal belt,” he said.
Panchayat president Kanthi Vellakayyan has won accolades for her relentless efforts to contain the Covid spread.
“There was panic as the Covid spread among the residents of Thera, Kunchipara and Thalavachapara at a rapid rate. As many as 43 people had tested positive in Thera during the last week of May. Meanwhile, residents of other colonies visited Thera to attend the funeral of Thayappan, a tribal leader. After that 20 people in Kunchipara fell ill and we conducted a testing drive in the colony."
"This apart, a marriage and a temple festival also led to the rapid spread of the disease. The health department came up with a strategy and we made arrangements for testing, vaccination and shifting the patients to Covid care centres. It was continuous monitoring that helped contain the spread,” said Kanthi. Health inspector T K Shiju, doctors Jeena Suresh, Arjun K M and Augustine at Kuttampuzha Family Health Centre coordinated the efforts.