A Sabar girl at a Gwalkata health camp

Jamshedpur, June 27: Lend a hand in conserving the greens of Jharkhand and the state will take care of your health in turn.

Buoyed by the success of its pilot projects of holding medical camps in Gwalkata and Kudada villages of Potka block, officials of Dhalbhum forest division have now decided to actively extend healthcare services to members of primitive tribes, who according to them are primary conservators of forests.

The move, which will see health officials reaching out to villages in Potka, Patamda, Dumuria and Ghurabandha blocks of the district, is aimed at providing immunisation and improving medical facilities for tribals. Monthly monitoring of health to check monsoon maladies is also on the cards.

“Tribals have been living in the forests for ages. They are dependent on the green cover for their survival. Hence, it is but natural that they work for the conservation of forests,” said divisional forest officer Sanjeev Kumar.

He added that an earlier pilot project, which had run for three months, had evoked an overwhelming response from tribals most of whom did not have access to proper medical facilities.

“We will ensure that they receive medical whenever they need,” Kumar said.

Medical camps in tribal pockets of the district were started in May. The forest department has so far set up three medical camps and covered around 120 families, living in Gwalkata and Kudada.

With help from local doctors and primary health centres, the foresters had also carried out a major immunisation drive, which included pulse polio drops and BCG and DPT shots. General tests on expecting mothers were part of the programme.

“We were surprised to find that members of most primitive tribes were unaware of the welfare schemes that had been launched by the government. They also had no clue about advanced and preventive medicare available today. Initially, it was even tough for us to convince them to come to our camps,” Kumar recalled.

The forester said that they had found two serious cases — one of malaria and the other of tuberculosis — at Gwalkata village. “They have been provided free treatment and medicines,” he said.