Mobile medical teams and police boats are being deployed across flood-hit areas of Malda district in West Bengal, where rising rivers have inundated nearly 140 villages and affected about 1.4 lakh people, district officials said on Thursday. Health centres in the Bhutni islet and other affected areas are under water, prompting the administration to take basic medical services to residents by boat.
The worst-affected areas are Manikchak, Ratua-I and Kaliachak-III blocks, while parts of Englishbazar have also been submerged. The Ganga was flowing 0.74 metres above the extreme danger level, while the Fulhar was 0.34 metres above its danger level, according to the report.
Malda district magistrate Rajanvir Singh Kapur said the administration was providing services and relief supplies in accordance with directions from the state government. “Following the directives of the state government, we are providing all necessary services to people in the inundated areas. Adequate relief items are being supplied to them,” Kapur said.
He said special arrangements had been made to provide healthcare at flood shelters and in waterlogged areas. Services continued at block health centres, while mobile medical teams travelled by boat to reach residents cut off by floodwater.
Aniruddha Nandi, the additional district magistrate in charge of health, said two boats carrying doctors, nurses and health workers were operating across the Bhutni islet. More than 180 pregnant women had been moved to safer locations and were being monitored by health workers, he said.
Flooded villages also face the risk of snakebites, officials said. Nandi said block hospitals had adequate supplies of antivenin injections. Victims would be rescued by boat and taken by ambulance to a block hospital for treatment, he said.
The district police have also shifted operations towards boats in Bhutni and Mahanandatola panchayat in Ratua-I block. Malda superintendent of police Anupam Singh said a temporary police camp had been established at Bhutni, with four boats being used for patrolling and helping distribute relief materials among residents.
At Mahanandatola, two boats had been arranged for residents and two for police personnel, Singh said. The arrangements are intended to support relief distribution and maintain access to communities affected by the inundation.
The district administration’s response is continuing as the Ganga remains above its extreme danger level and the Fulhar remains above the danger level. Officials said medical teams, relief supplies and emergency transport would continue to operate in the inundated areas.
