Battle against Coronavirus: Use of local language gets good results for the health department

In times of coronavirus scare, people get more scared even if they have a common cold. People are afraid to talk to health officials who come to conduct door to door survey. When the health officials use the local language to communicate with the people, it not only helps win their confidence and cooperation but also elicits truthful information.

Hyderabad:The most difficult task is to make people understand their responsibilities during the threat of coronavirus pandemic. This is more challenging in rural areas. The border district of Kutch has a distinctive culture where most people speak and understand only the local Kutchi language, which is entirely different from Gujarati. The health department officials decided to communicate with the village folks in their lingua franca Kutchi, a decision that yielded very good results in making people aware about the pandemic and steps they should follow to prevent its spread.

The district health officer Dr Premkumar Kannar is originally from Kutch and knows the local language with its varied accent and vocabulary. He communicates with the people with complete ease in their language. From the very beginning of the battle against coronavirus, the health department began the door-to-door survey, a task it completed 99.64 per cent.

In times of coronavirus scare, people get more scared even if they have a common cold. People are afraid to talk to health officials who come to conduct door to door survey. When the health officials use the local language to communicate with the people, it not only helps win their confidence and cooperation but also elicits truthful information. This is the advantage the health officials gained in Kutch.

Talking to ETV Bharat, district health officer Dr Premkumar Kannar said nearly half the staff of his department in Kutch are Kutchi who know the local language fluently. This makes the task of communicating with villagers easy. The benefits of communicating in Kutchi language became known during the day to day survey the department conducted. Villagers feel comfortable with the health officials if Kutchi is used in conversation. People listen more attentively if they are spoken to in Kutchi.

Except for Bhachau and Rapar, Kutchi language is the most effective language to communicate with the people in the rest of the Kutch district. In cosmopolitan centres such as Gandhidham and industrial township of Mundra, the health officials use Hindi and Gujarati to communicate with the people while conducting the survey.

Dr Kannar said most of the women in villages of Kutch do not follow Hindi or Gujarati and hence Kutchi is more effective means of communication and a medium to win their confidence.

Health officials have made audio and video on their mobile phones which they play in front of the villagers to start the conversation. The definite result of this was that over 1500 people who complained of cough and common cold were given treatment. There was fear among women and children after one positive coronavirus was detected in a remote village of Lakhpat taluka.

Kutchi is spoken in 100 per cent of villages

When there is fear among the people, the health officials have avoided using siren or public address system to make announcements in Gujarati or Hindi. Instead, the officials have used only the Kutchi language in one-on-one interaction with the people. This elicited the cooperation of the people.

In one of the videos, a health official has given basic understanding about the coronavirus pandemic and the need to follow lockdown conditions in Kutchi language.