Lost in transition, Juang tribe faces health crisis in Odisha
Nine deaths in a Juang-dominated hillside hamlet in Keonjhar district allegedly due to lack of timely medical attention has once again exposed the sorry state of healthcare available for tribals.
Published: 22nd October 2023 10:51 AM
BHUBANESWAR: Nine deaths in a Juang-dominated hillside hamlet in Keonjhar district allegedly due to lack of timely medical attention has once again exposed the sorry state of healthcare available for tribals in Odisha. The nine from Jantari village under Gonasika panchayat of Banspal block included a two-and-a-half year old child, who died of unknown reasons while the rest succumbed to diarrhoea, kidney and heart related ailments. Over a dozen are suffering from viral fever and diarrhoea.
A medical team which visited Jantari on Friday did not find any medical treatment history in most patients, pointing at either reluctance of the tribal community to seek modern health system or poor reach of the healthcare by the administration.
As per preliminary investigation conducted by a team of doctors sent by chief district medical officer Dr Kishore Kumar Prusty, barring a few, most of the affected Juangs had not availed healthcare and followed their traditional healing practices. While the nearest Gonasika primary health centre is 15 km from the hamlet, Banspal community health centre is located 40 km away. The district headquarters hospital (DHH) in Keonjhat is at a distance of around 50 km.
“A couple of them had visited DHH and availed treatment. The team did not find any medical treatment history of other patients. Though the treatment is provided free, the tribals are still hesitant to access healthcare services and prefer their traditional methods,” said Dr Prusty.
Juang is one of the 13 particularly vulnerable tribal groups (PVTG) of the total 62 tribes found in Odisha. The Austroasiatic ethnic group is mostly found in and around Gonsaika hills of Keonjhar. Almost half of the around 48,000 Juang population in the state resides in Banspal, Harichandanpur and Telkoi blocks of the district.Even as the state government has been pumping in thousands of crores rupees on strengthening medical facilities to provide universal healthcare to all, inequity in access to healthcare remains a cause of concern. Indigenous communities in many parts of the state continue to face lack of access to healthcare services due to various reasons.
A recent study by Utkal University found that a majority of Juang community members in Keonjhar district follows traditional practices as either health services are not accessible because the health centres are far away or the hospitals are facing acute shortage of healthcare professionals. As per the study conducted in Banspal block’s eight villages – Kundhei, Tala Kansa, Upara Kansa, Ghunghi, Gonasika, Guptaganga, Kadalibadi, and Upara Baitarani divided in two clusters, Juang tribe is in a transitional phase and uses a hybrid approach to health seeking.
“Though they give primacy to the traditional healthcare system since it is firmly rooted in the socio-cultural environment of the community, the desire for the same is waning due to their exposure to the outside world and changes in the ecological setting. Modern healthcare is becoming popular in the region, yet it still has infrastructural and staffing issues, which need to be addressed at the earliest,” pointed out assistant professor Priyanka Khurana.
