Supreme CourtImage source: PTI
Deaths from venomous snake bites occur from time to time. A petition has been filed in the country’s largest court. The petition was filed through lawyer Vishal Tiwari. In a petition filed in the Supreme Court, all public hospitals across the country have been asked to provide polyvenom (antivenom) and snake bite treatment.
The petition states that polyvenom (anti-venom) and snake bite treatment should be made available in government hospitals, government medical colleges as well as primary health centres, community health centers and district hospitals across the country to save people’s lives.
1.2 million people have died from snake bites in the past two decades
Along with this, there are demands for health education campaigns on snake bite prevention and public awareness campaigns on snake bites to significantly reduce the mortality rate, especially in rural India. Further, the petition stated that snake bite treatment and care units should be set up at government district hospitals and government medical colleges with specially trained doctors as per standard medical practices.
The petitioners claim that more than a million Indians have died due to snake bites in the past two decades. According to reports, 1.2 million people died from snake bites in India between 2000 and 2019. According to statistics, an average of 58,000 people die from snake bites every year. Nearly half of these victims were between the ages of 30 and 69, and more than a quarter were children under the age of 15.
Snake death tolls are high in these states
In the petition filed in the Supreme Court, it was stated that more cases were reported in states such as Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan and Gujarat. It is said that 70% of the deaths in these states between 2001 and 2014 were caused by people living in the densely populated low-elevation agricultural areas of these states.
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It also includes the recently defined state of Telangana. The petition said encounters between snakes and people inside and outside homes are more common, especially during the rainy season.
