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Health Issues The tribals also have a unique set of health issues, which are slightly different from the mainstream society owing to a unique genetic combination. Sickle cell Anemia Survey suggests that there is a very high prevalence of sickle cell genes in the tribal community of South Gujarat. It has been found to be 31 per cent among the Dodia Patel tribe, 28 per cent in Chaudhary, 31 per cent in Gamit, 27 per cent in Vasava, 28 per cent in Rathwa, 29 per cent in Bhils, 27 per cent among Tadvi, 31 per cent among Naika, 28 per cent among Baria, 20 per cent among Dhanaka, and seven per cent among Kolacha, Kotavadia and Kathodi. Doctors say out of a total of 76,653 tribals tested for sickle cells so far at these centres, 10,351 were found carrying traits of the disease, with 677 of them suffering from the disease. The state Health department has advised tribals planning to tie the knot to get their blood tested for traces of the genetic sickle cell disease. The advice follows the high incidence of sickle cell traits in their Red Blood Cells (RBC), which cause sickle cell anaemia, a genetic disease for which there is little treatment or cure, as of now. About the genetic disorder: Sickle cell anaemia occurs due to inherited abnormal haemoglobin gene, which changes the red blood cells from its normal biconcave shape to a 'sickle shape'. Sickle-shaped RBCs also reduce the cell's ability to propel blood through the capillaries, obstructing the flow of blood into vital organs resulting in retarded growth. Studies have shown that as the bone marrow is not capable of producing enough blood cells to keep pace with the rate of destruction, often leading to heamolytic anaemia, which in turn, causes haemolytic jaundice, changing the colour of face and palm to yellow. In other words, the anaemia in sickle cell patients is not linked with iron deficiency but rather to deformed RBC, say doctors. Diagnosis facilities: Concerned over the high incidence of this genetically linked disease, the state health department has now, in collaboration with the Valsad Raktdan Kendra (VRK), set up 78 screening and counselling centres in Surat, Tapi, Valsad, Dangs and Navsari, places where this disease is more prevalent. The 78 centres in South Gujarat to screen the sickle cell traits and disease include one in Surat Medical College, three general hospitals, 44 primary health centres, 29 community health centres and one at Valsad Raktadan Kendra. A lot of work in sickle cell anemia is being done by Dr. Jyotish Patel, Bardoli. He has also published a book on Sickle cell Anemia. His work is particularly relevant to the tribal populations of South Gujarat. More information about his work is available in the website http://www.sickleindia.com/index.php
The scenario in Villages
Bhagat trying to cure disease Dambh on chest The article below gives an insight into the health issues of the tribal regions in gujarat. http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/mag/2002/07/28/stories/2002072800430500.htm The pristine Dangs, a tribal area in Gujarat on the western slopes of the Sahyadri ranges, shot into the limelight a few years ago and for all the wrong reasons. A communal face-off at its headquarters — Ahwa — had then snowballed into a veritable Hindu-Christian conflict throughout Gujarat. However, what remains the core USP of the Dangs, oddly yet undocumented, is its distinctive local bhagat's ways of dealing with the resident Dangi's ailments and interpersonal problems. While cities have medical breakthroughs, technology-aided surgeries, counsellors, physiologists and state-of-the-art health care, the Dangis have their own ethnic solutions evolved from archaic traditions.
Warlocks, known as bhagats by the resident Dangis, play an almost indispensable role in the tribals' life. Dangis, when afflicted with disease or infirmity, make a beeline for the nearest bhagat, instead of a medical practitioner and surprisingly — get cured. It is not the cure, which would baffle a scientific mind, but the treatment, which seems rather incredible.
For almost any ailment suffered by a tribal, whether an infant or otherwise, the cure is in the form of branding known as dambh. While a bout of jaundice is countered with a branding by red-hot rods of the wrists, gastroenteritis is cured by a dambh on the stomach. A mere throat pain is cured by implanting a dambh on the neck, while a case of an inflamed testicle (hydrocele) is cured by piercing the correspondingly opposite ear lobe with a hot copper wire. Medical treatment for a Dangi is usually out of reach, with the nearest state health centre miles away.
The bhagat, on the other hand, is the most accessible option. And, although the entire healing process seems to be appalling, the patient more often than not gets cured. The burn injury contorts into a scorched lesion filled with pus and bursts within a week. It is then that the infection is said to have left the body — and the victim is cured. The bhagats, who live in stark seclusion from the rest of the village, are said to possess occult powers, which enable them to exercise metaphysical control acquired by years of yogic penance, tantra and tatrak vidya. Going by hearsay, some of the bhagats even possess powers of summoning a spirit in woman-form that performs incredible tasks at the behest of the bhagat. Solving personal problems, such as infidelity, marital disharmony or for that matter, winning the heart of an unwilling partner are all child's play for the bhagat. Coupled with fowl and cattle sacrifices, the bhagat's ceremonies include repetitive incantation of tantras in a local Dangi dialect and numerous yagnas and religious rites. The Dangi survives in a world of his own, cut off from science and technology, battling disease and disaster with raw and extremely crude resources. Hemmed by Surat and West Khandesh districts of Gujarat and Nasik of Maharashtra, the 64.4 km long district includes a densely forested area of over 1700 square km, used extensively by the simple-hearted race. Cosy hamlets with small thatched huts made of bamboo and dried grass provide homes for the rapidly disappearing tribe. It is perhaps the will to survive that has been responsible for the self-sufficient nature of the Dangis.
The origin of the Dangis could well be traced back to Mediterranean times, with historians even finding an uncanny resemblance with the Hamitic civilisation of Egypt. With the advent of the Aryans, it is felt that the tribals were forced to retreat to the innermost forests of Gujarat. Dangs, being by far the most inaccessible of woodlands in the entire State, was the best choice. Perched at a crest about 1,500 feet above sea level, the Dangs have since time immemorial been inhabited by aboriginal tribes such as the Bhils and Kunbis, also known as Kukanas in Dharampur area, Warlis and Gamits. The exceptionally rocky nature of the ground in Dangs does not retain any of the 80-100 inches of rain that the area receives annually, rendering agriculture nearly impossible.
The Dangi's day begins at the crack of dawn, when the first rays of sunlight fall upon the ground. While some of the women commence with their household chores of cleaning their house and sprucing up their looks, others move towards the forests. Ridiculing all gender battles encountered by their urban counterparts, the Dangi women are equal in all respects to their men. Deviating from the otherwise mundane pursuit of agriculture, the tribals depend on their own crude expertise in hunting prey in the dense forests. It is the contemporary Dangi who employs his liquor-making skills to earn him money — a concept alien to him — in order to effect a badli (barter) with a commodity he may require. The production of liquor, in itself, is an innovative feat. The tribal has to move down from his hut at a height of about 1,500 to 2,000 feet to the bed of a river nearby. Obscured from the prying eyes of the local police, the Dangi tribal, carrying two handas (pots) and a handful of mahuva or gur and navsagar, treks through dense forests of teak, sag (sectona grandis) and khadal (whitewood) trees, confronting a wild jackal or a spotted wild cat while on his way to the riverbed. At the end of the three-hour journey, the thick forests thin out revealing a much-used pathway, which slopes abruptly to the bed of a nearby river. Despite the mandatory ban on the production or sale of alcohol throughout Gujarat, liquor making and its consumption persist in the forests of Dangs. If a resident of Gujarat wants to buy liquor, he may have to drive all the way to Daman while a ``spirited'' enterprise is nevertheless under way within the confines of the forests of Dangs. It would not be uncommon to hear the banter of intoxicated tribals, carrying the intoxicant in hand trekking through marshy swamps, besides the occasional roar of a lion in the background or the slither of a chameleon against the leaves of a sag tree. Dangs' Mahaal jungles, inhabited by some of the most timid Warli tribals, are perhaps the most inaccessible of the region's forests. The jungles have some of the region's most rare wildlife.
And, it is in the midst of these formidable woodlands that huts of the tribal hamlets lie scattered. Light rarely reaches the ground on account of dense, tall imposing khadal trees branching into a web of green boughs before going on to taper into slim green twigs. And, although the Mahaal jungle lies shrouded in perpetual darkness, with visibility beyond a few feet a casualty even during daytime, the Dangi goes about his daily chores completely unperturbed. It is the relationship that the Dangi enjoys with nature, dodging deftly the pitfalls of the pseudo-modern city bred, which is almost enviable. Perhaps it's time to reflect and take a look within.
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