Tarun Karthick
Campbell Bay, 29 June 2022
The discontinuance of free air travel for patients referred to Port Blair from Remote Islands for emergency surgeries, specialised medical attention/care etc. is becoming a major cause of suffering for the general public.
Islanders and non-Islanders from the low-income group find it very difficult to pay for helicopter fares to travel from remote Islands to Port Blair upon referral by a doctor.
The worst sufferers are the residents of the Nicobar Group of Islands as the helicopter fare from Islands like Great Nicobar/Nancowry to Port Blair is the highest because of the distance.
Earlier, Administration used to bear the full cost of air travel for referred patients from Remote Islands to Port Blair. The patient and one attender had to pay nothing and could just simply avail the service when the doctor referred them to Port Blair by air.
Later, Administration allowed just the patient to travel for free and the attender had to pay for the fare. Subsequently, the facility was disallowed for non-tribal patients and only tribals could avail the free air travel upon referral.
The Administration later disallowed free air travel upon referral even for tribal patients.
The helicopter fare from Campbell Bay to Port Blair is Rs. 5350/- for Islanders and Rs. 13400/- for non-Islanders. Similarly, the helicopter fare from Kamorta to Port Blair is Rs. 4350/- for Islanders and Rs. 10800/- for non-Islanders. During emergencies, the families of patients from lower-income groups find it very difficult to arrange funds to facilitate the travel of the patients.
In many instances, patients delay their travel to Port Blair against the recommendation of the doctor just because of financial difficulties.
Enabling free air travel for referred patients was very beneficial for the residents of the remote Islands, especially for the residents from the lower-income group. General Public and Political leaders have time and again demanded restarting the free air travel for patients, but their demands have only fallen on deaf ears.
The kind of suffering the families of the patients go through cannot be expressed in words, it can only be felt when one experiences it firsthand.
A desperate mother cries as she fails to arrange money for the airfare to get her seriously ill son to Port Blair. A young son delaying the travel of her seriously ill mother to Port Blair. There are hundreds of people who have suffered because of the discontinuation of free air travel for referred patients from Remote Islands to Port Blair.
Many suffering patients have received help from relatives, politicians and the community. What is a better use of the thousands of crores pumped into Andaman and Nicobar Islands every year by the Central Government, if the poor patients cannot be helped?
Travel by air for these referred patients from Remote Islands is not a luxury but a desperate need. Specialised medical care is not available in the remote Islands and people have no choice but to visit Port Blair for surgeries and advanced treatment.
It would be difficult for many on Govt. Salaries to understand the importance of providing free air travel to Port Blair for patients from remote Islands and they may deem it unnecessary and an unjustified use of the Govt. funds. A few thousand bucks don’t seem much to those earning handsomely, but it is important to remember that many poor people still survive on the meagre old age pension paid by the state.
Administration should be commended for facilitating emergency evacuations for patients when regular air travel is not available, but its policy of withdrawing the free travel to Port Blair for patients of remote Islands should be equally condemned.