Regalla: “My first regular posting was in a tribal village in Allapalli in a dense forest in Kothagudem district. There was no road or transport. We would have to walk for long distances to reach people. It took me a month to get used to it. The villagers were rooted in their traditional methods and beliefs. It was a tough one to crack because even pregnant women preferred delivery at their homes. It was their way of living, but I had to explain medicine and science to them. I remember on a rainy night, a couple of villagers and I carried a woman to the main road, out of the forest, to get an ambulance and take her to Kothagudem for delivery. There was no electricity. We were in the middle of a dense forest. We used flashlights to pass through, with fear of snakes and animals.
In fact, there were no ambulance services when I first started working. Everything was a challenge, right from basic medicines, but I didn’t give up. I grew up in a similar environment and I knew how difficult things could get. In my village, there were no doctors. I’m the first doctor from all of my mandal in Choppadandi town in Karimnagar district. We had to travel 30km for any kind of treatment. There were hardly any educated people in my mandal. It was taboo to permit women to study – let alone send them to a city. But I did – my parents recognised my potential and dreams. They let me come to Hyderabad and study MBBS in Gandhi Medical College, where I got a seat purely out of merit.
Being a doctor was my dream since my childhood. I knew early in life that there are many villages like mine with absolutely no medical facilities and I wanted to serve people in such places. So, a posting in a tribal village didn’t upset me. It made me happy that I could help those who needed healthcare. One of the major issues in the village was malaria. We conducted many awareness camps to teach people to be careful and hygienic. Even during the outbreak of the pandemic, the government gave us basic training to understand the virus. Many doctors in India have treated diseases but this is a new one. Nobody was ready but we had to gear up and fight it. During the lockdown, we controlled it excellently.
There was not a single case in our mandal. But lifting the lockdown opened transport and the spread began. We’ve, however, made people aware of safety measures here. My life has been full of learning experiences, right from the time I moved out of my mandal to study. City Life was new. Medicine was challenging. But I was ready for it. We don’t know when the pandemic will end, but we have to fight it till that time comes. As a doctor, it’s not easy, but am I scared? No!”
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