The Hindu : Kerala News : Meet frames protocol for snakebite treatment

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jul 26, 2006

Kerala

Kerala

Meet frames protocol for snakebite treatment

Staff Reporter

Suggested for implementation throughout the country

KOCHI: A protocol for snakebite treatment in the country has been formulated by experts participating in a national snakebite conference organised by the Poison Control Centre at the Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences and the World Health Organisation (WHO) Snakebite Treatment Group.

The two-day conference, which concluded here on Tuesday, has come up with a solution that can be implemented throughout the country for first aid and hospital treatment of snakebite victims at the grassroots levels.

The protocol will come into play only after ratification by the Union Government and the WHO.

Robert Norris, an international authority on snakebites from the University of Stanford in the U.S., who participated in the meeting, helped formulate the protocol. "It will be a model for both the developed and the developing world," Prof. Norris said.

Victims of snakebite in the country, hitherto treated with varied methods by different doctors and hospitals, will be able to undergo a prescribed line of treatment suited to Indian situations, if the protocol is ratified.

Experts believe that providing a solution for treatment of snakebites will help bring down the fatality reported in these cases.

The country reports 50,000 annual deaths from snakebites.

Deliberating on the issue, the experts have proposed to modify some of the general treatment methods adopted abroad to Indian situations. Condemning some of the unscientific methods taken up by some major hospitals, the experts have proposed rough guidelines about hospital treatment.

Some of the conventional first aid methods result in more harm, said V.V. Pillay, organising secretary of the conference and chief of the Poison Control Centre. These practices, most of the time, result in disabling a person, if not in death, Dr. Pillay added.

The protocol on first aid involves the dos and don'ts related to snakebite treatment.

The proposed protocol will be refined and submitted to the Union Government for ratification and then to the WHO, Dr. Pillay said.

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