In disaster-hit areas of Uttarakhand, local people face hardships. The villagers encounter challenging situations with heavy rain damaging their road connectivity. The struggle of a young man from Bothi village in Pithoragarh district, for getting medical treatment after he sustained a fracture when he was hit by a boulder recently, highlighted the miserable situation.
Twenty-four-year-old Khusal Singh Bothyal was going to Jauldhua on 16 July when he got hit by a boulder and suffered a fracture on his left leg. As he was not in a position to walk, the villagers approached the local administration for airlifting the injured youth. The chopper failed to reach the village for two whole days after which a field rescue operation was launched.
On the request of the villagers, the Pithoragarh district administration dispatched a search and rescue team. The team carried the injured Khusal Singh on a stretcher for a distance of about 10 km. After that the injured youth was placed on a trolley to cross the Gori river. Even after reaching the other side of the river, the search and rescue team had to carry the injured man another km to reach the road-head.
At the KC Band, the team waited for the government ambulance for two hours and when it failed to reach the spot they took a jeep to ferry the patient to the community health care centre at Munsyari.
The hospital has few facilities and it forced the family members of the injured Khusal to head for Pithoragarh, by taking a government ambulance and undertaking a journey of 120 km.