Bitten’ but what bit? No clue, One life lost
Pioneer News Service
Ranchi
A non descript village Korta under Danda block in Garhwa district very recently shot to ‘anxiety and concern’ wherein children saw their ‘bites’ but failed to tell what had bitten them.
Kiran Kumari, 14, was all playful when she felt ‘something bit her in the toes’. She didn’t see what bit her, nor her parents. It happened around 9.30 morning quite recently. The family didn’t find any urgency or necessity to rush her to the health facility centre not only for the first one golden hour but wasted few hours more in belief the girl would come round.
She was brought to the Sadar hospital Garhwa around 4 pm Thursday. She was sinking and was rushed to the higher centre MMCH Daltonganj but she succumbed to the bite midway. The family received the body after the post mortem conducted in the Sadar hospital Garhwa.
Civil surgeon Garhwa Dr John F Kennedy on being contacted said “The girl complained about the bite in her toes. She didn’t see anything which bit her.” However family members and neighbours suspected the ‘invisible’ that bit Kiran to be either monitor lizard or snake.
“Monitor lizard is no lethal. There is just a species called Gila Lizard. It’s a highly venomous lizard. It’s in USA and Mexico. India and for that matter Jharkhand is absolutely free of it” informed Kennedy. “The family just didn’t bother at all. Six or seven hours were wasted. It proved fatal for Kiran” a pained civil surgeon Garhwa said.
“The landscape of the village Korta looks a safe haven for snakes. There are bamboo clumps. Khapra tiles are around. Snakes can’t be any far away” opined Kennedy. There were more shocks that gripped the village Korta. Three more girls had a similar and identical trauma. Bitten by something that they didn’t see.
However sources said the alert civil surgeon Garhwa Dr Kennedy taking immediate command of the situation, after initial treatment, got rushed the three girls Ridhi, Sonam and Nilam to the MMCH Daltonganj.
Rishi and Sonam were put on intravenous anti snake venom serum and are reported to be responding to the treatment. Nilam’s parents shifted her from the MMCH Daltonganj to a mission hospital some 28 kms away from Daltonganj. Sources said the locals are tense and nervous so much so that a child got himself bruised by some brick and his parents thought him to have been bitten by the same invisible thing!
“The child has minor abrasion. It’s no bite. But in a situation like this such a panic reaction is always around.” added Dr Kennedy. “We have put our health facility centres to be vigilant about the episodes. Prompt medicare has been put in place. I appeal to people not to waste time if it’s a snake bite episode or any other bite episode. Rush to the nearest health facility centre asked the civil surgeon.
Narrating an incident he said there came a man with a Russell Viper bottled up in Nagar Untari health facility centre. Dr Kennedy said such a venture is to be avoided as live snake can’t be brought in the hospital to show the species as doctors go by the growing symptoms of the post bite and not of the colour or hood or sound of the snake.
