Govt orders officials across dists to review audit of snake bite deaths
Bengaluru: The Karnataka government has authorised all Deputy Commissioners (DC) across districts to review the audit of the snakebite related deaths and take necessary measures to ensure effective implementation of National Pro-gramme for Prevention and Control of Snakebite Envenoming (NPSE), offi-cials said on Monday.
The move follows concerns raised by the health department, which stated that despite efforts to reduce the morbidity and mortality due to snakebite, the state 'continues to face challenges in the implementation of the pro-gramme'.
To address these challenges, the health department issued an order stating that the H1N1 death audit committee in the districts constitut-ed under the official memorandum is also assigned with the responsibility of audit of deaths due to snakebite.
'All the Deputy Commissioners of the Districts are here by authorised to re-view the audit of the deaths due to snakebite in the committee already con-stituted under Official Memorandum. The Deputy Commissioners are here by directed to conduct review meetings of snakebite cases in the district at least once in every quarter and implementation of National Programme for Prevention and Control of Snakebite Envenoming,' it said in its official or-der.
In addition, the Deputy Commissioners of the districts have been directed to take necessary measures to correct the challenges noticed in the imple-mentation of the NPSE. According to the department, in Karnataka, the Snake Bite Prevention and Control Program was launched and implement-ed from 2023-24. On February 12, 2024, the state government declared snakebite deaths and cases notifiable under the Karnataka Epidemic Dis-eases Act, 2020.
In 2023, Karnataka reported 6,596 cases of snakebites and 19 deaths. Af-ter snakebite cases and deaths due to it were declared as 'Notifiable dis-ease' last year, the state reported 13,235 cases and 100 deaths in 2024. The health department highlighted various measures taken by the state to reduce the morbidity and mortality due to snakebite --- such as -- ensuring availability of Anti Snake Venom (ASV) in sufficient stock starting from PHC (Primary Health Centre) to district hospitals.
Issuance of SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) to administer initial load-ing dose of 10 vials for all snakebite cases with signs and symptoms of snake bite envenomation.
Physicians and Medical officers were trained at different levels for managing the snakebite cases. 'Despite all these measures taken, state is facing some challenges in the implementation of the program,' the health department said, pointing out that reporting of cases and deaths due to snakebites is not 100 per cent as some of the medical colleges and private hospitals are not reporting all cases or there is delay in reporting.
It also cited that snakebite victims still seek treatment from traditional faith healers leading to loss of precious time, which is the main cause of death as per death analysis.
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