Anemia grips members of the particularly vulnerable tribal group (PVTG) in Palamu said the civil surgeon Dr Anil Kumar.
"At Salaiyya hamlet, Dagra our health team conducted Hb (hemoglobin) test of 32 members of the particularly vulnerable tribal group. 6 percent of them were found anemic." added the civil surgeon.
"The anemic were given tablets / syrup of iron folic acid. They were counselled to eat leafy things like palak saag. Palak saag has enormous iron. It can set right iron deficiency anemia or nutritional deficiency anemia" said Dr Anil Kumar.
"They are the PVTG. No body can ask them to eat dry fruits. The best that they can do is eat what they have. They have saag in plenty. They must go for it. As for medicinal support we will be providing them with iron tablets and syrup as per requirement."
Twenty two tests were done for the sickle cell anemia and none were found any positive added the civil surgeon.
Dr Anil Kumar said "When one talks of the particularly vulnerable tribal group, the fear of the sickle cell anemia occurs but luckily 22 who were tested for this were found not positive."
An OPD was conducted 'right on a charpoy' by our team braving highly inclement weather at Salaiyya on Saturday recalled the civil surgeon.
Huge rocks there close to the charpoy doubled as chairs for the PVTG members, 52, of them who appeared in our open to sky OPD at Salaiyya.
28 members of the PVTG were given eye examination. Two of the 28 examined had 'immature cataract' said the civil surgeon.
Following the directive of the DC Palamu Shashi Ranjan to cover 14,000 plus PVTG members with Ayushman Bharat Yojna, at the Salaiyya open sky OPD, forms and applications of the 18 of the members of the PVTG were taken for the Ayushman card, if everything goes without any problem like mismatching of names, biometric features etc.
The PVTG had never thought of medical assistance in such a way said sources. If a charpoy is used as shelf for medicine then it immediately strikes a balance between the poor and denied and the health team in areas cut off from the society.
Salaiyya hamlet was once the mini port of the naxals. However this distant and tough location is waking up to development which is still rudimentary said sources.
The civil surgeon said "On Saturday our health team visited a hamlet of the particularly vulnerable tribal group at Salaiyya, Dagra. It's a difficult to reach location but my health team reached there."
More and more medical outreach would be made to the hamlets of the PVTG who are in 167 hamlets of 15 blocks in Palamu having a household of little over 4,600.
