3 members of Pando tribe die due to multiple organ failure in Chhattisgarh

The district administration has kicked off a health checkup drive for people belonging to the tribal community.

Three members of a family, including two children, of the primitive Pando tribe died in the last four days due to multiple organ failure. Two others are admitted at a government hospital in Balrampur district, officials said on Wednesday.

Two other members of the family who are admitted to the hospital are said to be out of danger. (HT photo)

Following the deaths, the district administration has kicked off a health checkup drive for people belonging to Pando tribal community in the region.

According to officials, while one death took place in the house of the affected family in the village, two others, including the head of the family, succumbed in a government hospital of neighbouring Surguja district.

Two other members of the family who are admitted to the hospital are said to be out of danger, they said.

The population of the Pando community stands at around 4,000 and they mainly live in at least 30 villages of the Balrampur and Surajpur districts in northern Chhattisgarh.

Pandos are mostly small farmers, forest dwellers and labourers working in different places of Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand.

Uday Pando, a representative of the community, claimed that Upendra Pando (9) died in Dolangi village of Balrampur district on August 14 after suffering from illness for a week.

“When tribals came to his house to perform his last rites they found that his father Ramlakhan Pando (32) and elder brother Dinesh Pando (12) were also ill for a long time. The tribal pooled money and shifted the duo to a government hospital in Ambikapur where the father-son duo died on August 18,” said Pando.

Two other sons of Ramlakhan —Virendra Pando (14) and Jitendra Pando (8) - who were also suffering from fever are admitted to a hospital in Balrampur, Pando said, adding that the two are said to be out of danger.

According to Pando, the affected family was trying to cure illness through traditional medicinal plants available in the area and did not inform anyone in the village about their suffering.

“The cause of deaths of two who died in the hospital in Surguja is multiple organ failure. There was a severe infection in their liver, as per the doctors,” said Surguja collector Sanjeev Jha.

Meanwhile, the district administration of Balrampur has started a drive for medical examination of the Pando community in the region.

“The deaths took place because they have not informed anyone and were relying on traditional medicinal plants. We have a community health check-up nearby the village. After the death, a health team is camping in the village and a special drive for medical examination of Pando tribals has started under the supervision of the collector,” said Abhishek Gupta, the local sub-divisional magistrate (SDM), Ramanujganj, Balrampur.

Block Medical Officer, Dr Kailash Karatiya said that the two kids who were admitted to the district hospital are out of danger. “We are examining all members of the community and medical teams have been sent to various villages of the region,” he said.