THE STATESMAN (Kolkata, India) 20 August 06 Where venom rules (Biswabrata Goswami)
Krishnagar,: The Nadia district, which has already been dubbed as the “rheumatoid arthritis district” and has also earned the reputation of being the hub of arsenic-borne diseases as well as infant mortality and crime against women, now also records the highest number of deaths from snake-bites in the state.
The statistics tend to take one by surprise as the district neither has the largest number of snakes nor is there a shortage of anti-venom in the district.
According to the district health officials, hundreds of people in Nadia are bitten by snakes every year and a considerable number of the affected people die.
Last year, 11 people died in Nadia out of the 126 people who were bitten by snakes. On the other hand, Australia, home to the most venomous snakes in the world, recorded just one death in 2005.
Not just the Nadia district, the number of deaths due to snake-bites all over the country is also very shocking.
The Union health ministry has formulated a draft national protocol on snake-bites taking into consideration the large number of snakebite deaths in India, estimated to be around 50,000 per year.
The four common snakes that causes death to humans have been identified as Common Cobra, Krait Cobra, Russell’s Viper and the Saw Scaled Viper.
The government is now adding a fifth member to this deadly list of venomous snakes of Nadia ~ the Hump Nose Pit Viper.
A district health official said: “The worst-affected states are Kerala, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Orissa, Assam and West Bengal.” The chief medical officer of health, Mr Mrinal Kanti Biswas said: “Here, we use our traditional methods in dealing with snake-bitten patients.
The villagers go to the traditional healers instead of coming to hospitals.
The patients are given chemicals like potassium permanganate and tourniquet and treatment is done by mouth suction method which leads to gangrene and poisoning.”
In a bid to aware the people, a science organisation in Chakdah recently participated in the state’s oldest snake festival in the glory the Hindu goddess Manasa held at Khedaitala in Chakdah to spread awareness regarding snake-bites among people. Convinced by the science workers, over 100 snake-charmers and ojhas gave up their superstitious beliefs and appealed to the people to go to the hospitals when bitten by a snake instead of depending on them for treatment. Khedaitala under the Chakdah block in Nadia district, about 90 km from Kolkata, has been famous since the past 200 years for the communities of snake-charmers residing here like bede, ojha and irula communities.
Where venom rules