Kerala - Kochi   

Protocol to be evolved on managing snakebites

Staff Reporter

`Highest number of deaths reported in India'

KOCHI: An effective protocol is needed to manage snakebite cases in the country, which has by far reported the most number deaths in the world, said Robert Norris, Chief of Emergency Medicine, Stanford School of Medicine, U.S., here on Monday.

Speaking after inaugurating a two-day national conference on snakebites called `Toxocon - 2' at the Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences, Prof. Norris said that such a protocol was long overdue. A standardised regimen for treating snakebites at the grassroots level is needed, he said.

There were about 50,000 deaths reported due to snakebite last year in the country, he said. About 40 experts from across the country are participating in the World Health Organisation-sponsored event, which would help evolve a new Indian protocol in managing the menace. Prof. Norris, a world-renowned authority on snakebites, would help formulate the protocol, which will be specific to the country. Welcoming the participants, Prem Nair, Medical Director of AIMS, said the meeting is expected to draw the basic parameters of the protocol.

Introducing the subject, V.V. Pillay, chief of the Poison Control Centre at AIMS, said the report would be submitted to the Health and Family Welfare Department of the Union Government. This needs to be reviewed and ratified by a panel of experts in the country and the WHO respectively before being adopted as the Indian standard, Dr. Pillay said. Ian Simpson, representing the WHO Snakebite Research Group in India, said the country had the highest toll in terms of absolute numbers from snakebite as compared to other nations. Australia, which has some of the most venomous snakes in the world, reported only one death last year while the U.S. recorded five deaths, he said.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

A doleful tale from this reader of Blaveli
Eroor-Chambakkara boat race to be held on Thursday
Protocol to be evolved on managing snakebites
Attack on colleges condemned
Japanese training ship in Kochi
Employees complain of crisis in CIAL
Income Tax staff to launch agitation
Around the City
In Kochi Today

Copyright © 2006, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu