Health facilities see surge in snake bite cases

Published On: June 29, 2016 12:25 AM NPT By: Republica  | @RepublicaNepal



KATHMANDU, June 29:Every year snake bite cases surge during monsoon and this year seems to be no exception.

With monsoon in full swing across Nepal, health facilities in many parts of the country, including Kathmandu Valley, are seeing a rise in snake bite patients.

Sukraraj Tropical and Infectious Disease Hospital (STIDH), Teku informed that every day about a dozen snake bite victims visit the hospital's emergency.

"We only admit serious patients at the hospital," Dr Sher Bahadur KC of the hospital said, adding that doctors send home patients who seem normal after medication.

According to Dr Pun, doctors at the hospital admit three to four serious cases every day.
 Dr Pun said that most of the patients are working class people who get bitten while working in fields.

"Some deaths from snake bite have also been reported from several districts in Tarai region," Avinas Prasad Singh, chief of Zoonosis section at the Epidemiology and d Disease Control Division (EDCD) under the Department of Health Services (DoHS).

He urged all to rush snake bite victims to a treatment center immediately.

The EDCD provides free medical care and snake antivenom to patients. Every year about 200 people die of snake bite throughout the country, despite the free treatment offered by the government.

The EDCD claimed that it has supplied sufficient vials of snake antivenom to treatment centers.


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