Khonsa (Tirap), Jan. 13: Communicable diseases have claimed the lives of more than 200 people in Arunachal Pradesh?s Tirap district, which is also one of most disturbed places of the state. The diseases, which broke out in August last year, are yet to be completely eradicated.
Quoting reports submitted by the district medical officer, deputy commissioner J.P. Choudhury said more than 100 people have died in the Lazu circle alone while another 35 have perished in Longding.
?There was a kind of epidemic in Tirap. By and large, it is on the wane, though the diseases are still raging in parts of the district. The authorities have been apprised of the measures required to prevent the recurrence of these diseases,? Choudhury said.
Alarmed over the deteriorating health situation, the district administration has sent an SOS to Itanagar, calling for immediate measures to revamp the health sector in the disturbed district.
The diseases are a combination of measles, cough, fever, dysentery and tuberculosis and have hit about 10 of the 161 villages in the district. ?Nobody knows exactly how many people have died. According to our estimate, about 200 have perished, but it could actually be higher,? Jawang Sumpa, convener of the Tirap Human Rights Organisation, said, adding that Lazu and Longding are among the worst affected subdivisions.
According to the list of victims submitted by the All Ollo Welfare Association to chief minister Gegong Apang, 177 people have died between August and December last year. There are seven primary health centres in Tirap, but all of them are in a deplorable condition. The Lazu centre does not have adequate beds for patients and most of them are made to sleep on the floor of the kitchen. The worst is the tuberculosis centre at Khonsa where treatment is more an exception than the rule.
Lack of infrastructure is compounded by low allocation of funds and the refusal of doctors and paramedical staff to get posted in the militancy-ravaged district. Between 2000 and 2004, Rs 97.04 lakh was sanctioned for the health sector, which includes travelling allowances and payment of daily wage-earners, leaving a paltry sum for the upgradation of infrastructure.
Officials said the situation would not have declined to such an extent had adequate doctors and paramedical staff been present in the district in August.
?Though medical teams were sent from Itanagar on two occasions and medicines distributed to the villagers, these were simply not enough to arrest the situation. What was required is immunisation,? an official said, adding that only 11 doctors currently cover Tirap?s population of over a lakh.
With a low literacy rate of 42 per cent, Tirap is one of the most backward districts in the state. The families of the victims are still trying to fathom the cause of the sudden disease that struck their relatives.
Sijen Namphu, who has lost two children, said he never saw the symptoms before. ?We have never seen these symptoms. The throat swells, the face and the body turn red and there are blisters all over. The patients, mostly children, die within a week.?
L. Wanglat, home minister and minister in-charge of development of Tirap and Changlang said efforts were to prevent the recurrence of the diseases.