Why Attapady’s tribes continue to skew Kerala’s record

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Editor's note: “She had thought of a name for our baby. But she didn't reveal that to me as she wanted to keep it a surprise. Now she has left me all alone.” These are the words of 24-year-old Balakrishnan Perumal, an Irula tribe member and resident of Pudur, a hamlet in Kerala’s Attapady region. His wife Thulasi’s pregnancy was complicated from the start. She had sickle cell anaemia, a disorder that causes red blood blood cells to lose their disc shape and elasticity. These sickle-shaped cells, when they travel through narrow blood vessels, get stuck and clog blood flow, causing pain. Sickle cell disease is especially dangerous to the health of pregnant women and their unborn babies. Thulasi and Balakrishnan were in touch with doctors at the Kerala government’s tribal specialty hospital at Kottathara. In her third month of pregnancy, the doctors told Thulasi to discontinue her sickle cell disease medication because they could complicate her pregnancy.  In November last year, during her seventh month of pregnancy, Thulasi developed a swelling on her right leg, so she and Balakrishnan rushed to …