Mamata urges caution as Hooghly reports 39 snake bite cases in a week

Kolkata: With seven to eight blocks in Hooghly submerged due to flooding in south Bengal, the district reported about 39 cases of snake bites over the past week.

Fortunately, all affected individuals were taken to various health facilities and successfully treated, it was learnt.

According to the district administration, the number of people who have been bitten by snakes was much lower as they claim that such incidents have been happening for over a month since the Monsoon set in.

But the unconfirmed sources said that the number would be around 39 who were bitten. Due to prompt action by the local administration, the people were all saved.

Bengal is one of the states in India that experiences a high number of snakebite cases. There were many instances in various districts where a victim bitten by a snake was kept at the house and some kind of sorcery was performed.

They were not taken to hospitals for a long time since the incident occurred and the victims eventually died.

Significantly, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee who was touring flood-affected South Bengal in the past few days and held an administrative meeting in Birbhum on Tuesday said that the people in the flood-affected areas should be cautious.

She also urged the people in the affected areas that in case of a snake bite incident, the patient should immediately be sent to a nearby hospital as anti-venom drugs are well stocked in all the government hospitals across Bengal.

She also urged the district health administrations to promptly swing into action in such cases.

People in the affected areas were in fear after so many cases of snake bites were reported over a span of one week.

It was learnt that out of 39 total snake nite cases, 7 people were from Hoogly’s Balagarh.

Tension was triggered among the local residents after 16 eggs of a venomous species of snake were recovered from Polba in the same district.

The district administration has been carrying out cleaning as the water started receding. Insecticides and bleaching powder were being spread in several places and a campaign has been carried out to make people aware.

According to data, about 44 per cent of the deaths due to snake bites between 2012 & 2021 were reported in West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, and Odisha alone.

In fact, West Bengal reported 2200 deaths, which is more than that reported by 27 states/UTs put together. The 3 states were also responsible for 43% of the cases reported during this period. Though Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu reported 19.5 per cent of the cases, the two accounted for only 8.5 per cent of the deaths.

On the other hand, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Gujarat, which accounted for only 10 per cent of the cases, reported more than 21 per cent of the deaths.

Similarly, Chhattisgarh and Assam account for only 2.2 per cent and 0.4 per cent of the cases respectively while they account for more than 3 per cent of the deaths.

India is home to approximately 310 snake species, with the majority being non-venomous.

Despite India being one of the highest burden countries for snakebites, there have been no previous studies looking at the mental health manifestations of snakebites.