Another patient carried on makeshift bamboo stretcher to hospital in Keralam’s Edamalakkudy
Residents of Edamalakkudy, Kerala's first tribal panchayat, continue to face severe medical access issues due to a lack of motorable roads. Patients are frequently carried on makeshift bamboo stretchers through dense forests to reach hospitals, highlighting persistent infrastructure neglect.
Why it matters
This highlights the ongoing struggle for basic healthcare infrastructure and connectivity in remote, marginalized tribal communities in India.
In yet another incident highlighting poor connectivity in Keralam’s first tribal panchayat, a patient was carried on a makeshift bamboo stretcher across rugged forest terrain in Edamalakkudy, near Munnar, before being shifted to a hospital on Saturday (September 5, 2026) evening.
Chandanam, a resident of Edamalakkudy, said that 33-year-old Ajay from the Nooradykudy settlement had been suffering from high fever for several days. On Saturday evening, villagers decided to shift him to a hospital and carried him on foot for nearly seven kilometres through dense forests to access medical care. This marks the fifth such incident reported in the panchayat in less than a month since August 12.
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