State launches app to share info on snake bite prevention & rescue
kolkata: State Health department has come up with a unique mobile application, "snake bite prevention and rescue" that gives a detailed guideline on how to manage snake bite cases.
The app will also provide information about the nearest health centres where anti-snake venom is available.
The app has a series of features on how to tackle snake bite patients and their initial management. All the government hospitals and health centers have been added in the map which will help people to rush the patients to the nearest center where anti snake venom is available. Sometimes it happens that patients or their family members get to know that there is no anti snake venom in the health center after reaching the place. It takes a lot of time and it can also prove fatal for the patients. The recently launched app is fitted with a GPS system and user instructions have been given in two languages ~ Bengali and English.
The app also contains contact numbers of snake rescuers who can help in rescuing snakes. The app also provides a first-aid manual on dos and don'ts if one is bitten by a snake. It has also given a detailed outline on how to avoid snake bite. All the government hospitals have been asked to stock antivenom, but sometimes stock is also exhausted. The app will show which hospitals have the stock of this anti-snake venom, said a health official.
One needs to download the mobile app that has been designed by the Poison Information Centre at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital. Prof Dr Somnath Das who is the HoD of forensic medicine and toxicology at RG Kar has been instrumental behind the app.
It may be mentioned that it often happens in different parts of the state that a snake bite victim is taken to `tantriks' (occultists) with the belief that they will be able to revive the patients. In most of the cases the patients are taken to the hospital after the 'golden hour' is over.
The Calcutta National Medical College and Hospital (CNMCH) has successfully conducted the first phase trial of Varespladib methyl, a drug meant for the treatment of snakebite patients. The clinical trial was performed on patients. The CNMCH is the only medical college in the eastern India which is carrying out research on the subject.
