Bike Ambulance service for tribals staying in hilltop

Tribals staying in hilltop at Nagada village in Jajpur district, surrounded by dense forest, will now get immediate health service as the Odisha government has decided to introduce 'Bike Ambulance Service' soon.
This was announced by the State Health and Family Welfare minister Pratap Jena after visiting Nagada, the remote village which had hogged the national and international headlines after series of children death due to malnutrition and lack of health care facilities last year.
Meanwhile, sources said the state government has already introduced bike ambulance service in Koraput and Rayagada district and a boat ambulance service in Malkangiri district to provide immediate health service to the people living in inaccessible areas.

This was the first visit of the Health Minister to Nagada village, totally dominated by a particularly vulnerable Juanga tribe.
"We came up with the idea of introducing bike ambulance as our aim is to provide immediate treatment to the tribals residing atop Nagada hill. Currently, there will be one bike ambulance for the hilltop village and it will be placed in the tribal village," Jena told reporters yesterday.
He said a permanent 108 Ambulance service would be provided to the hilltop village after couple of months.

Minister said the tribals residing in hill top village do not get medical treatment on time as these areas have poor connectivity.

Nagada is under the mineral rich Sukinda block in the district.
There was no road to Nagada. Malnutrition deaths in the village sparked outrage in the country. As inaccessibility was blamed for the underdevelopment of the primitive tribals in Nagada, the state government has constructed a motorable road to the hill top village on priority basis.
The minister also said, a health sub centre would be set up at Kaliapani, about 10 km away from Nagada where a permanent doctor would be posted.
Later, the sub centre would be promoted to new Public Health Centre (PHC) which can deliver better health care facilities to the tribals of the areas.

Besides, infrastructural facilities will be upgraded at Sukinda CHC and all vacant doctors post of the CHC would be filled up soon, he said.
The minister expressed satisfaction over the steps taken by the district administration and commented that there are many villages such as Nagada, which await government attention.
"There are 50,000 Nagada like villages in our country. As tribals are residing in the dense forest and inaccessible areas, they lack development. State government has taken a series of measures to develop the living standard of the tribals after the malnutrition deaths came to fore," he said.
"I visited all three hamlets - Tala Nagada, Upaar Nagada and Majhi Nagada," he said.

He said, the state government is taking a host of measures for the tribals from its own resources and asked Central government to assist in the mission.