Back home, city docs narrate the plight of locals & how tough the mission was.
Human memory is short, and so are the attempts to reach out to people following a disaster, say Mumbai-based doctors who have returned to the city after serving people in the flood-ravaged regions of Uttarakhand for two months.
“While the country celebrates Independence Day, it has already forgotten the victims of the flood who, even two months on, are finding it extremely difficult to cope with the disaster that struck many districts of Uttarakhand in June,” says Dr Ravikant Singh, the president of Doctors for You, a Mumbai-based medical non-profit organisation.
With all the trapped pilgrims having been evacuated by July 6, Singh feels that the media’s attention has shifted away from the tragedy. “The locals will reel from the effects of the tragedy for the next three years,” he said.
Just before returning to Mumbai, Singh, with his team of six doctors, was lodged in the remote town of Pithoragarh near the Indo-Nepal border. While Singh returned, his fellow doctors are stationed in Rudraprayag district. In keeping with the spirit of Independence Day, from August 16, they will train 1800 ASHA workers from the four worst-affected districts of Rudraprayag, Pitthoragarh, Chamoli and Uttarkashi.
“We are training ASHA workers to respond to crises and treat fractures, burn injuries and snake bites, among other things, as doctors are not willing to serve in the remote hilly regions,” Singh says.
Uttarakhand requires 230 MBBS and 90 postgraduate doctors to fill up vacant posts at government-run hospitals. “The paucity of doctors is huge. We realised we couldn’t stay there forever, so we are training locals,” he adds.
The doctors have had to walk up to 8kms everyday or travel by boat to reach remote villages which were inaccessible by road. Doctors from the Prime Education Health Learning (PEHL) services that served in Uttarakhand till the first week of August recounted their experience.
“We walked through knee-deep water in the low-lying Laksar region which was warm due to fecal contamination by cattle. We could access the affected villages only via boats that run during the day. There is still no other way to reach these villages. Epidemics of gastroenteritis and skin diseases have broken out,” says Dr Amit Thadani from PEHL.
He adds, “We have to restore their traditional means of livelihood and aim at reducing their dependence on the Chaardham Yatra, which will be shut for the next two to three years. People from across India should reach out to help those in distress.”
You can lend a helping hand
People in flood-affected areas require medical help, clothes, shelter, restoration of livelihood means and nutritional support.
To lend a helping hand to those distressed in Uttarakhand, contact:
Doctors For You: Either visit www.doctorsforyou.org or call 9324334359/ 9868665228 / 8108011123
PEHL: Visit www.pehlindia.org or call 98202 91771/98203 04802/9769021771
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