World is for those, who hold their grounds

Pushplata pens a remarkable story of a DFY Covid warrior, Anguri Senapati, working among the tribal population in Odisha.

By Pushplata Bhardwaj

She returned my call around 7 in the late evening after completing the work at the Covid-19 vaccination site in a remote village of Odisha. I could still feel the freshness in her voice over the phone call. I was talking to a soulful small-town girl, Anguri Senapati from Kalahandi district of Odisha, who moved me with her fascinating groundwork.

Anguri Senapati is a nursing officer at Doctors for You (DFY), Muniguda Vaccination centre in Odisha. She lost her father at a very young age and had to undertake a loan to complete her education. Slowly pain started percolating her voice. I was with all attention to her. Continuing her story, she talked about how she had to shift to her relatives at Muniguda from her native place to make a living and support her family. As she regained her composure, I found it suitable to change the subject to her Covid work.

Anguri along with her team travels miles from village to village strolling planes, hills, and forests to vaccinate people and spread awareness on Covid 19 vaccine safety.

In her words:

“So far we have roughly Vaccinated and spread awareness among 5000 tribals of Ambadola, Saradapur, Laxmipur, and many more villages. Living conditions, social status of education, and health infrastructure are not adequate here. Basic awareness of vaccination and health issues is lacking. There is hesitancy on Covid vaccination among people. While interacting with people, I realised that people fear getting fever after getting the vaccination. Our team explains to people in Odia or vernacular language about our body's immune response. And convince them this is a healthy sign that vaccination is effective and working in their body system. I also motivate them on adopting Covid Appropriate Behaviour. After getting convinced they consent happily for getting immunized against Covid 19”.

Further, she added that she is very content and thankful for working with Doctors for You.