Bengaluru: Reported circumstances of snake bites and deaths in Karnataka have seen a drastic soar over the previous couple of years.
Data from the Integrated Health Information Platform (IHIP) exhibits that reported snakebite circumstances practically quadrupled from 950 circumstances in 2021 to three,439 in 2022, and almost doubled to six,587 final yr. Deaths, too, jumped from zero in 2021 to 19 in 2023.
Though this spike might be attributed to well being employees being inspired to inform snake chunk circumstances, these numbers, nevertheless, don’t current an entire image of the burden of snake bites. Cases are grossly under-reported in official information, thus skewing anti-snake venom (ASV) necessities in well being institutions throughout the state.
The state authorities on February 19 acknowledged this hole in understanding and mandated the reporting of each snake chunk case and loss of life on the IHIP. This will push reported numbers larger by subsequent yr, enabling higher monitoring of precise incidence, particularly throughout monsoon months which see a excessive incidence of snake bites.
Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao instructed DH that the well being division will use this information to grasp the precise incidence of snake bites in numerous districts, and accordingly allocate ASV shares to main well being centres (PHCs), taluk and district hospitals. “Training well being employees on the native ranges to manage ASV will likely be our focus as soon as we get this information,” he stated.
Currently, the Karnataka State Medical Supplies Corporation Ltd (KSMSCL) has a measly 14,000 ASV vials throughout its 27 lively warehouses, which is nowhere close to sufficient to cowl all the state. Despite this, officers at KSMSCL assured that “shares are sufficient”, including that the onus was on native well being clinics and hospitals to replenish their shares.
“Tenders are being known as to acquire 57,000 vials of ASV, which can cowl practically 3,000 hospitals and PHCs linked with us throughout the state. How a lot is shipped to every hospital relies on the necessities they add on the e-AUSHADHI software,” stated Chidananda S Vatare, MD of KSMSCL.
It is unclear when the tendering course of will likely be accomplished and vials — which cost between Rs 500 and Rs 900 — will likely be procured.
However, the availability of high quality ASV shares and educated healthcare personnel on the PHC degree — particularly in rural areas — aren’t the one issues that should be fastened, famous specialists.
Since most chunk victims require a minimal of 20 injections, in addition to further remedy based on the extent of envenoming, prices normally run into a number of hundreds of rupees.
Dr Nagaraj, medical director at a hospital in Hoskote, who has been treating snake chunk victims for over twenty years now, has been pushing for mass training about snake bites, in addition to making ASV accessible and inexpensive in any respect ranges.
“The authorities should encourage extra pharmaceutical firms to take up analysis and improvement of ASV as a result of shares aren’t enough and the cost of every vial can be excessive. Similarly, it should additionally take the assistance of snake rescuers to scale back circumstances and supply them incentives,” he stated.
Vattam Adithya, a Ballari-based snake rescuer, is pushing for the federal government to strengthen well being infrastructure in native clinics and hospitals throughout the state so victims aren’t pressured to journey lengthy distances for remedy. “Victims should be admitted inside an hour; any delays will scale back possibilities of full restoration.”
Wildlife activist and former wildlife warden Sharath Babu can be hopeful that the federal government will revise the compensation supplied to victims from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 10 lakh.
(Published 25 February 2024, 01:47 IST)
