BENGALURU: Anjanappa Kallimani (name changed), 50, a farmer from Ankalagi village in Vijayapura district, 475kms from Bengaluru, complained of severe breathlessness on May 1. He was taken to the district hospital where he died the following day. His wife Sujatha Kallimani complained of similar symptoms on May 5 and died the same evening.
This sad story actually starts on April 25 when Anjanappa had fever, cough and cold. Soon, Sujatha too contracted them. Both had influenza-like symptoms, but decided to stay home and self-medicate, thinking it was a seasonal flu. They had comorbidities.
Following their deaths, residents of the village are worried but those with symptoms hesitate to get tested or get admitted in
Covid Care Centres
. Government doctors and health experts say this is a common cause of Covid deaths in villages across the state over the past 15 days. They say more deaths in rural areas occur because people don’t go to hospitals despite symptoms.
Dr Kishore K, a senior doctor who has worked extensively in rural areas over 30 years, said: “Patients from villages come to hospitals only when their condition deteriorates to the extent they require ventilator support. As many have either high blood pressure or are diabetic, their condition gets complicated. Self-medication add to the problems.”
A government doctor, speaking on condition of anonymity, in Hassan said, “Villagers who get to know they’re positive are not isolating themselves because they’re not aware of the risks involved or they deliberately hide it from fellow villagers due to stigma attached with Covid. They move around in the village and infect many others’’ The problem is compounded by the fact that some infected persons indulge in self-medication as they can’t afford hospital care. Vaccine hesitancy is another issue. “People in rural areas fear the side-effects and some don’t take the jab because they strongly believe no virus will infect them,” said Ravi Kulkarni, a health activist.
He said the government’s strategy in rural areas should be four-pronged: identify cases with the help of local people or volunteers, control spread of infection, create public awareness, and provide treatment. Deputy chief minister CN Ashwath Narayan, head of the
Covid Task Force
, stressed there’s a need to stop home isolation in rural areas to curb the spread of disease. “Paramedical staff are being used to conduct door-to-door survey of rural populations and ensure that maximum sampling is done,’’ he said.
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