Palghar: 866 containment zones on paper, but life goes on

The tribaldominated district of Palghar is in the grip of the second Covid19 wave but without the precautions that have become commonplace in cities Seventy per cent of the population in Palghar district is tribal According to the District Health Officer Dr Dayanand Suryawanshi in the districtrsquos eight talukas more than 623 people have died of Covid19A maskless woman with her baby in Chaas villageHe said there are 866 containment zones in the eight talukas of Dahanu Jawhar Mokhada Palghar Talasari Vasai Vikramgarh and Wada However during a ground visit midday found that villages had no containment zones CZ and nor was the practice of isolating being followed THE worstaffected taluka is Palghar where 234 people have died of Covid19 followed by Dahanu where 104 have died The percentage of tribal population in Palghar and Dahanu talukas is 31 per cent and 57 per cent respectivelyTalukas with a large share of tribal population include Jawhar Mokhada Talasari and Vikramgarh where Covid19 deaths till May 16 are 32 18 29 and 31 respectivelyCovid19 victimsrsquo houses do not have banners notifying them as Covid19 affected Relatives and friends of Covid19 victims have been visiting families to pay condolences and no social distancing is followedDr Suryawanshi also said that an awareness campaign has been conducted to educate tribals about the pandemic However villages like Kondachapada Bedukwadi Kaprichapada Kawalpada etc in Jawhar and Mokhada talukas which midday visited did not have any banners or posters providing information on Covid19ldquoThere appears to be a lack of effort in tracing highrisk contacts and creating CZs This has become one of the reasons for the rapid spread of the virusrdquo said Ulhas Bhanushali of NGO Shramjeevi SagathanalsquoWe donrsquot know Covid19 CZsrsquoIn Kawalpada village 35yearold Raju Brahmane died of Covid19 on April 24 ldquoWe do not know what Covid19 is No one came here to tell us about itrdquo said Brahmanersquos neighbour Lila BhondaveRaju Brahmanersquos wife Mathi with her five children at their residence in Kawalpada villageVilas Fupane a 40yearold teacher died on May 2 ldquoWe do not know what a containment zone is My brother died and we brought his body here and conducted his last rites in the presence of 50 peoplerdquo said Ramesh at Bedukpada villagelsquoThey wait till last momentrsquoldquoLack of stable internet has also deprived the tribals of authentic information on Covid19 Most believe that if they visit a hospital for fever or cough they will die They rush to the hospital only when their health starts deteriorating or when they face difficulty breathingrdquo said DHO Dr SuryawanshiAfter losing his job amid the pandemic Brahmane returned to his village five months ago ldquoHe was suffering from TB On April 22 he started struggling to breathe So we rushed him to a private hospital in Morchundi He had cough and fever The doctor referred him to Sakhri Covid19 centre from where he was referred to Revera Covid19 centre in Vikramgarh He died within two daysrdquo said Brahmanersquos father Halya 52ldquoDoctors did not give his body The last rites were conducted by the hospital staffrdquo Halya said Brahmane is survived by his wife Mathi and five kids aged between four and a half and 14 years ldquoNo one came to seal the house How will we go out if the house is sealed The toilet is not inside we have to go outrdquo Halya saidSerpentine roads lack of O2The roads in Palghar are serpentine and inclined which slows down travel considerably Ramesh Fupane from Bedukwadi in Mokhada said ldquoI had taken my brother to the hospital on my motorcycle because the ambulance was going to take over an hour to reach My brother was running out of breathrdquo Vilas was referred from Sakhri Covid19 centre to Vedantaa hospital in Dahanu ldquoI was in the ambulance I saw my brother gasping for breath Suddenly he became motionless and when I asked the ambulance driver he told me the oxygen is over How can a hospital send a serious patient in an ambulance without adequate oxygen My brother could have been alive had he reached the hospital in Dahanu but he ran out of oxygenrdquo Ramesh saidLila Bhondave in orange saree Rajursquos neighbour with other residents of Kawalpada PicsHanif PatelSurekha Salve who lost her journalist husband Raju on May 3 has not been restricted to her house and neither have her three children and fatherinlaw Surekha said ldquoAfter my husband fell sick we rushed him to Sakhri Covid19 centre in our own car as the ambulance takes time to comerdquo Raju had tested positive on May 1During the course of Rajursquos treatment the family was referred from one centre to another ldquoHis oxygen level started to fluctuate between 75 and 80 and then the doctors at Sakhri Covid19 centre referred him to a hospital in Jawhar They arranged for an ambulance but he died on the way as the ambulance ran short of oxygenrdquo Surekha saidlsquoIncreased antigen testsrsquoChief Executive Officer CEO of Palghar Zila Parishad Siddharam Salimath told midday that all SOPs related to Covid19 are being followed The residents of the above villages have not undergone antigen or RTPCR testing However Additional District Health Officer Dr Milind Chavan told midday that antigen tests are being conducted in the district on a war footing ldquoWe have increased antigen tests in tribal areas from 3000 to 4000 per day and reports are given in 20 minutes For RTPCR tests the samples are collected at different health centres and the swabs are sent to JJ Hospital Haffkine NIRRH and a few hospitals in Dahanu Their reports come in 48 hoursrdquo Dr Chavan saidThe chairman of a governmentappointed committee to look into the status of schemes for tribals in Maharashtra Vivek Pandit told midday ldquoGenerally tribals hide symptoms of Covid19 They must report to the nearby health centres at the earliest but they rush to the hospital only when the situation goes from mild to moderate Then the case goes beyond the doctorrsquos controlrdquoA picture of Raju Brahmane with his wife MathildquoThese deaths are happening because of lack of awareness among tribals Most tribals do not know what Covid19 is or what are its symptoms and what they should to safeguard themselves Our field workers from Shramjeevi Sangathana an NGO are visiting different talukas in Maharashtra and using megaphones and loudspeakers to make people aware of the pandemicrdquo Pandit saidVolunteers fever clinicsDHO Dr Suryawanshi said ldquoWe have identified a group of adolescents in the tribal belt as Covid19 volunteers With the help of these Covid19 volunteers or health volunteers we will address two issues mdash early detection of Covid19 cases and vaccinationrdquo Dr Suryawanshi added ldquoWe understand that the distance between the tribal villages and their nearest health centres is long So we are trying our best to shorten it We have planned fever clinics which will cater to around 3000 people so that tribals donrsquot have to walk more than one or two kilometres for testsrdquoDr Sagar Patil the assistant district health officer said ldquoA rapid response team has been established at each block to trace highrisk contactsrdquoWomen and children without masks in Kawalpada village4654No of active cases across the eight talukas of Palghar623No of Covid19 deaths among tribals in 8 talukas of Palghar4000No of daily antigen tests in tribal areas as per officials7037Proportion of tribal population in Palghar district