Medical camps in Nagoba jatara reveal a worrying trend in tribal health

Unbridled usage of pain killers by the aboriginal people is leading to kidney damage and other ailments, say doctors

The two medical camps operated at the just concluded Keslapur Nagoba jatara - the tribal fair in Indervelli mandal of Adilabad district - is giving sufficient reason for worry as far as tribal health is concerned. Doctors who had manned the camps disclosed that at least 80 per cent of the out patients had complained of bodyaches, headache or fever and seeking pain killers like Diclofenac or Paracetamol.

For example, of the 80 out patients treated at the medical camp run by the District Medical and Health (DM&H) Department on the first day of the jatara on January 24, as many as 63 complained of cold or headache, or both. Same was the situation at the camp run by the Vanavasi Kalyan Parishad (VKP), an organisation working among tribals. But maintenance of records here was not as meticulous as the former’s.

Symptoms and addiction

Doctors did not find anything amiss even when such a high incidence of ailments necessitating prescribing pain killers was witnessed. They had assumed that the dust at the jatara venue was the cause of bodyaches, cold or fever, or all of these.

The high incidence in question conforms with the trend that has been observed in recent years in tribal villages. Adivasis in almost all villages in the former composite Adilabad district, especially in Adilabad and Kumram Bheem Asifabad district, are addicted to pain killers eventually leading to kidney damage and other ailments.

Rising renal failures

In the last two years, several deaths due to kidney failure have been reported from villages in Lingapur mandal of Kumram Bheem Asifabad district, and those from Narnoor, Gadiguda, Indervelli, Ichoda and Sirikonda mandals of Adilabad district. The common thread in all these deaths was the heavy consumption of pain killers by the deceased.

“Yes, the patients come asking for more number of pain killer or paracetamol pills, sometimes even an injection of it. We, however, limit the number to two tablets fearing that unchecked consumption of these medicines could lead to other complications,” asserted Danthanpally Medical Officer Dr. K. Santosh.

Monitor and check

The DM&H Department, or for that matter the VKP does not have a system whereby outpatients who came seeking pain killers could be monitored. “It needs to be done in case any major tragedy in the longer run is to be prevented,” opined a doctor, also working in the camp.