Kolhan Faces Shortage Of Anti-Snake Venom Drug

Jamshedpur, 23 June 2020:

Health centres in Kolhan division are facing a shortage of snake venom drugs as the region is reporting a large number of snake bite cases with the onset monsoon. In the last fortnight, seven cases of snake bites were reported from Kolhan — four from West Singhbhum and three from East Singhbhum. Two people have also died in Kolhan recently after being bitten by snakes.

West Singhbhum civil surgeon O P Gupta said. “At present, anti-snake venom drug is not available at the community health centres (CHCs) in the district, but we are in the process of procuring it.” East Singhbhum civil surgeon Maheshwar Prasad said they are expecting a consignment of the drug from Ranchi at any moment. “For the time being, we have procured 20 files of the drug and distributed them among CHCs,” Prasad said.

Seraikela-Kharsawan civil surgeon Himanshu Barwar told TOI that the district has a limited stock of the anti-venom and they are trying to buy new stocks. “As of now, two to three files are available with the CHCs here,” Barwar said. He added that no cases of snake bites have been reported from the district in the recent past.

Sanjay Kumar, superintendent of government-run MGM hospital in Jamshedpur, said there are adequate stocks of anti-venom drug at the institute. Notably, MGM had faced a shortage of the drug last year. The Times Of India