Coimbatore: The lack of doctors and proper medical facilities has been crippling the Coimbatore Forest Department.
Coimbatore: The lack of doctors and proper medical facilities has been crippling the Coimbatore Forest Department.
Lives of both humans and animals are invaluable. Proper care and treatment at the appropriate time can rescue anyone. Couple of days ago, an ailing wild elephant died from lack of proper medical care. Many such wild animals lose their lives due to the lack of veterinary doctors in the Forest Department. Tamil Nadu has a minimal number of doctors and workers in the Forest Department. Only some of them work on their own while others do so out of compulsion.
The Coimbatore district is surrounded by the Western Ghats and the human-elephant conflict has been on the rise for a long time now. Loss of lives are many on both the sides. From the year 1999 until 2018, human-elephant conflicts have led to the loss of 191 elephant lives and 143 human lives.
The lack of medical facilities in the Forest Department is glaring and has been criticised. Speaking about this Kalidas of Osai Organisation said, "As far as the Forest Department is concerned, only people with veterinary degrees offer treatment to wild life. There is only one veterinary doctor for all of the Nilgiris, Anaimalai and Coimbatore. Coimbatore is surrounded by mountains and dense forests. Human-wildlife conflicts, elephant deaths, sickness and obstacles in elephant corridors have led to the increase in the death of wild elephants."
Suggesting a remedy to this he said, "Instituting more labs and employing additional doctors can help save the wildlife. An elephant that died in the Nilgiris a couple of days ago could have been saved with adequate medical care. Similarly many such animals that are in need of medical care are being treated by the doctor from the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve, due to the lack of forest department doctors. This is the same doctor who has to offer treatment to the temple elephants in various districts. Requests regarding this have been placed to the government and we have insisted on filling up the vacant posts in the Forest Department."
Forest Department doctor Sukumar said, "When proper medical aid is provided to ailing animals at the right time they can be saved. Yes, there is a shortage of medical staff here. When an elephant dies or falls ill, it takes along time to receive the lab reports.This causes a delay in the treatment that can be offered to the sick animal. Sufficient labs, required technicians and research workers can help speed up the process of identifying the illness. We have requested the government regarding this."