Tribespeople carrying a 75-year-old patient from the Koodallarkudy settlement in Edamalakkudy on a makeshift stretcher to Mankulam on their way to the Adimaly Tluk Hospital on Wednesday (August 12, 2026).
| Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRNAGEMENT
The lack of proper road connectivity to Kerala’s first tribal panchayat of Edamalakkudy in Idukki district has come to the fore once again as a 75-year-old patient from the settlement had to be carried on a makeshift stretcher through dense forest for roughly 10 km to Mankulam, the nearest town, before being admitted to the Adimaly Taluk Hospital.According to residents, Malayappan has been down with fever for several days. On Wednesday morning (August 12, 2026), as his condition worsened, he had to be shifted to the hospital. “Due to the absence of proper road connectivity, we made a bamboo stretcher and carried him through deep forest,” a resident of the settlement said.
Tribespeople carrying a 75-year-old patient from the Koodallarkudy settlement in Edamalakkudy on a makeshift stretcher to Mankulam on their way to the Adimaly Tluk Hospital on Wednesday (August 12, 2026).
| Photo Credit:
