Snakebites pose a huge health problem

Visakhapatnam: Despite Andhra Pradesh recording high incidence of snakebite with thousands of people falling prey to its complications every year, much has not been changed over the years.

The National Snakebi-te Management Protocol (NSMP), prepared by the Union government long back, was also not fully implemented in the state, making the number of deaths go northwards only. A snakebite-mortality study carried out by the Snake Saver Society (SSS), through a field-level study across the districts over a span of five years, estimated that 1,200-1,500 people die of snake bite in AP every year, many of which go unregistered.

Within the last one week, three people died of snake bite in Vizianagaram district only, reflecting the severity of the situation. While the recently released National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data indicated 7,846 snakebite deaths in 2014 in India and 186 deaths in Andhra Pradesh, the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene said that more than 40,000 are dying of snake bites in India every year.

The National Snakebi-te Management Protocol also outlined that all the medical centres to be equipped with anti-ven-om stocks and trained staff to treat the patients in the snake bite prevalent areas. But many rural healthcare centres in the state still lack the anti-venom doses and don’t have trained staff to treat snake bites.

Dr Rajendra Pandey, HoD of Department of Nephrology, Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education and Research, Kolkata, who did an extensive research over snake bites and statistics, said, “According to the most conservative estimates, at least 11,000 snake bite fatalities occur in India each year, making it the most heavily affected country in the world.”

Common cobra, Russell’s viper, saw-scaled viper and common krait are the highly venomous four snakes and are believed to be responsible for most of the poisonous bites in Andhra Pradesh.

The common cobra being the most venomous snake can inject about twenty times more than the dose that can kill a human being.