Polio patient in Dantewada serves as health worker combating challenges

Ganga Shandilya, a polio patient, has dutifully played the role of a health worker for over 32 years in the remote villages of Dantewada.

As the world celebrates the efforts of women on International Women's Day, Shandilya, who has been working as a health worker in Sameli since 1988, said hers was not an easy journey.

"I was determined to become a health worker. When I was posted in Sameli, my first challenge here were Naxals, IEDs and spike holes. The second challenge for me was to cross the forest, drain, mountain to reach people," she said, adding, "However, these hurdles did not hold me back."

"As I lost the function of my left hand due to polio, I want every child in the area to be free of this disease," she added.

Ganga also said that earlier she had to take a bullock cart to visit these villages.

She is the first health worker in the area who has been working here since posting.