Woman succumbs to snakebite in Khordha, family members allege delayed treatment

Tension prevailed high at Tangi Community Health Centre (CHC) after a woman died of snakebite allegedly due to lack of anti-snake venom and gross negligence by the hospital staff. Family members alleged failure in timely treatment to be the reason behind the woman’s death. The deceased has been identified as Anusaya Maharana.

According to sources, family members rushed Anusaya to Tangi CHC after she was bitten by a snake on Sunday morning. Despite being brought to the hospital on time, there were no doctors or nurses to attend Anusaya.

Worse, the medical authorities could not even administer the anti-snake venom injection to Anusaya, leading to her death. The incident spread outrage in the medical premises as locals blamed the negligence of the doctors and nurses for Anusaya’s death.

“Our patient reached the hospital at around 6:15 am. However, the doctor had not arrived and there were no staff nurses to attend her also. The security guards were giving first aid. We had to search for the nurses and get them to attend to the patient. Even after knowing that it was a snakebite case, they could not administer the necessary treatment to the patient, leading to her death,” alleged sarpanch Prafulla Kumar Das.

When contacted, Tangi CHC officer Satya Ranjan Nanda said, “All the medicines are available in our hospital provided by the government. We do not have enough clinical features to refer them or give some other injection, so I sent them for a test.”