Snakebite cases & deaths set to be ‘notifiable’ in Bengal
Times of India | 2 December 2024
Kolkata: In a move that could help in shaping up policies to provide better treatment facilities and compensation to snakebite victims, the state health department is preparing to make snakebite cases and deaths notifiable.
Health officials said the department had received a letter from the union health secretary asking all states to make snakebite a notifiable disease by both public and private health facilities. Health officials said in West Bengal, the most snakebite-vulnerable districts are South and North 24 Parganas, parts of North Bengal, and some areas in West Midnapore. In recent years, a significant number of snakebite cases have been reported from the New Town-Rajarhat area.
"Making snakebite cases notifiable will bring this public health issue into focus," said public health expert Asis Manna, former MSVP at ID Hospital Beliaghata.
Health officials said only a few govt institutes maintain snakebite data and that not all snakebite victims go to health facilities. Many victims prefer traditional healers, which in turn results in deaths.
"West Bengal and Tamil Nadu have the best treatment policy by making antivenom available in all bedded govt hospitals. But snakebite cases are much underreported," said Dayal Bandhu Majumder, the state's resource person in training health workers on snakebites.
A multicentric study a few years ago by Majumder and other colleagues in South 24 Parganas, covering only about 29% of the district's population, found 4,871 snakebite cases in three years. "We also discovered that the state recorded more snakebite deaths in a particular year than malaria, which is given much importance. We were trying to convince policymakers, especially in the centre, of the attention snakebite cases need. But each time, we were turned away," added Majumder.