• NET Web Desk

A doctor at a rural health centre in Assam’s Sivasagar district has developed a comprehensive treatment plan to ensure zero fatalities from snake bites by 2024.

An anaesthesiologist with the National Health Mission (NHM) and serving at the Demow Rural Community Health Centre (DRCHC) – Dr Surajit Giri, with assistance from the state government, seeks to close gaps in the snake bite management system.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 1.38 lakh people globally die each year; due to snake bites. Out of these, 50,000 deaths occur in India.

“The high death rate in the country’s north-eastern region is mostly due to a lack of coordinated, comprehensive care for snake bite management, but there is no reliable evidence to support this,” Giri told PTI.

He further added that coordinated movement of snake bite victims from the field to the hospital is lacking and the problem of the huge gap between the care in pre-hospital, point of source hospitals and secondary care hospitals needs to be addressed to ensure survival of the victims.

Giri stated that the DRCH has been working on a paradigm for the prevention, treatment, mental health, and socioeconomic support of snake bite victims since 2018.

A Venom Response Team has also been constituted as part of the District Disaster Management Authority (DDMA)’s “Apada Mitra” project; who will notify victims and safely transfer patients to a local hospital.

In order to provide Anti-Snake Venoms (ASV) and other medications, a Fast Response Team was also constituted, comprising of an on-duty doctor and nurses.

“We are trying to replicate this in other health centres across the state with the help of doctors posted there so that we can ensure zero snake bite deaths by 2024,” he said.

According to the Senior Medical Officer of Sivasagar district – Dr Simanta Taye, “The project has greatly benefitted those who are bitten by snakes. Nowadays, people don’t hold back while seeking quick medical attention at hospitals.”

Work on the project in DRCH started in 2008 after a woman bitten by a snake was first treated by a local quack and brought to a hospital only when it was too late to save her. At DRCH, 1048 snake bite victims have been registered since 2018 and there has been only one death so far, Giri said.

“Our goal is to educate, empower, train public and health care workers, strengthen community centres and make the public believe that there is a full proof medical management of both venomous and non-venomous snake bite cases,” Giri added.