Now no one will die due to snake bite, a doctor with the National Health Mission (NHM) developed a comprehensive treatment plan

 by Bhupen Goswami

Guwahati: A doctor at a rural health centre in Assam’s Sivasagar district has developed a comprehensive treatment plan to prevent snake bite deaths by 2024. Dr Surjit Giri, an anesthesiologist with the National Health Mission (NHM) and employed at demo rural community health centre (DRCHC), with the assistance of the state government, wants to close gaps in the snake bite management system. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 1.38 lakh people die every year worldwide. Of these, 50,000 deaths due to snake bites occur in India.

 “The high mortality rate in the north-eastern region of the country is mostly due to lack of coordinated, comprehensive care for snake bite management, but there is no reliable evidence for the same,” Giri said. He further said that there is a lack of coordinated movement of snakebite victims from farm to hospital and the problem of huge gap between care in pre-hospital, point of source hospitals and secondary care hospitals needs to be addressed to ensure survival. Giri said drch has been working on a paradigm for prevention, treatment, mental health and socioeconomic support of snake bite victims since 2018. A poison response team has also been formed as part of the District Disaster Management Authority’s (DDMA) “Apada Mitra” project. which will inform the victims and safely shift the patients to the local hospital. To make anti-snake venom (ASV) and other medicines available, a fast response team was also formed, comprising an on-duty doctor and nurse. “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 snake bite deaths by 2024.