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Odisha activists seek quarantine centres for Covid-19 hit tribal groups
The activists suggest that the Dongria Kondh and Bonda tribes in the area are given an adequate number of 3-layered masks, PPE kits, medicines and vitamins as safety precautions.
With Covid-19 cases exploding among Dongaria Kondh and Bonda tribals, two of the 13 particularly vulnerable tribal groups (PVTG) of Odisha, a hoard of activists and poets have urged chief minister Naveen Pattnaik to start quarantine centres exclusively for the affected tribals near their villages.
At least 85 members of the particularly vulnerable tribal group of Dongria Kondhs, living in Niyamgiri hills of Rayagada have tested positive for Covid-19 over the last one week. While 23 Dongria Kondh tribals had tested positive last week, in the last 3 days another 62 tested positive in Kalyansinghpur and Bissamkatak block of Rayagada district during an intensive testing drive. Similarly, 12 Bonda tribals living in Malkangiri district have tested positive for Covid-19.
Expressing their concern that the Bondas and Dongria Kondhs are very vulnerable to Covid, the activists led by Lingaraj Azad of Niyamgiri Surakhya Samiti and social activist Prafulla Samantara in an open letter to Patnaik, said that the government should take special and adequate measures to protect the life of the two communities.
"The current protocol of home quarantine will not work within Adivasi communities because of different ideas about privacy and isolation in Adivasi cultures. Home quarantine measures within Adivasi areas are not the right way to contain the spread or break the chain of the pandemic," the activists said.
The activists urged that instead of naso/oropharyngeal swab testing, saline swirl and gurgle methods of testing should be done twice every week for the Dongria and Bonda people. "Door to door surveys must be done by a team of trained local volunteers for regular monitoring of symptoms and reporting to quarantine centres for any suspected cases,” the letter said.
The activists suggest that all the tribes in the area are given an adequate number of 3-layered masks, PPE kits, medicines and vitamins as safety precautions.
“Further, home remedy treatment measures as prescribed by the ministry of Ayush also be considered as part of the treatment protocol wherever needed," they demanded, adding that all PHCs located in Adivasi areas are upgraded on a war footing and equipped with sufficient medical equipment, medicines, person power and necessary infrastructure.
Samantra and other activists demanded that Dongria and Bonda families must be provided with a special livelihood relief package as compensation for their agriculture and minor forest produce which they cannot sell in the haats/local markets which are non-functional due to prolonged shutdown/lockdown.
The SC/ST welfare department meanwhile started a ₹100 a day wage compensation for all PVTG persons testing positive for Covid for the next 14 days. As per the PVTG Covid management strategy, a health kit is being provided to every family of infected PVTG households, valued at Rs. 2,500.
It also brought out a standard operating procedure (SOP) for Covid management in PVTG areas in which door to door surveillance will be done by rural health care activists and volunteers with the support of community resource persons. As per the SOP, persons with Covid symptoms should be isolated and tested and if an outbreak or cluster of cases is reported from an area, small containment zones may be set up.
