Rush medical teams to Agency areas: Lok Satta

The Lok Satta Party today expressed concern over the spread of diseases like malaria, typhoid and diarrhea and the death of a large number of people in the Agency areas of the State and wanted the Government to rush medical teams along with requisite drugs to the affected areas.

Talking to the media, party spokespersons Mr. Katari Srinivasa Rao, Mrs. Y. Ramadevi said that the poor Scheduled Tribes living far away from civilization in hilly forested regions did not appear to figure on the Government’s radar. Quoting media reports, they said that infectious diseases had taken a toll of 62 people in the Agency areas of Adilabad district and 25 in Visakhapatnam district in the last couple of months.

The spokespersons pointed out that Government medical facilities in Agency areas are limited and even when they are available they go without medical professionals and drugs. Absence of safe drinking water is merely aggravating the problems of tribal people.

The Government, they said, had rightly swung into action to tackle the swine flu which is spreading fast. “But its silence on the plight of tribal people defies an explanation.”

The Lok Satta Party leaders said the August 17 rains in Hyderabad once again exposed the failure of the Government and the municipal corporation in preventing flooding and exposing citizens to loss of limb and life and property.