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A snake caught at the residence of Hazaribagh DC Manish Ranjan in April this year
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Hazaribagh sadar hospital has run out of the vaccine that is administered to snakebite victims at a time when the district has been witnessing a rise in fatalities.
Families of patients complained that they had been running from one medicine shop to another in search of anti-venom serum or AVS.
Civil surgeon of Hazaribagh Binay Kumar admitted that AVS was not currently available at sadar hospital. “I have shot a missive to the health department, asking the authorities concerned to arrange the vaccine. We hope to get it soon,” he added.
According to records available in the hospital, 13 snakebite cases were reported in and around the district, including six deaths, in July. Hazaribagh recorded a total of 41 snakebite deaths in the past two years.
Sources pointed out that the spurt in snakebite cases both in urban and rural areas confirmed the presence of poisonous snakes in large numbers in the district. In fact, NGO Neo Human Foundation, in its two-year survey, identified 19 species of snakes present in Hazaribagh. Of them, five are venomous. The town area also has snakes. Two serpents were caught from the residence of Hazaribagh DC Manish Ranjan this year.
“Every year, the number of snakebite cases increase during monsoon. Fatalities are usually more in rural areas, where victims don’t have access to good medical facilities unlike their urban counterparts, who rush to sadar hospital. But now with sadar hospital also lacking the anti-poison vaccine, there is no end to patients’ woes,” a source said.
Ritesh Gope, a resident of RD Gope Road, said a snake bit his wife last month. “I rushed her to sadar hospital, located half a km from my house, and her life was saved. But I got only two shots of the vaccine from the hospital. The rest I got from the market,” he said.
However, experts asked people not to panic and rush to the nearest doctor during emergency. “The victims have to look out for symptoms to know whether the snake was poisonous. The symptoms are itching, burning sensation, change of skin colour and blood in stool,” said an expert.
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