In a tragic irony, a farmer in Surat had to swim across the Khapri river for 90 minutes, that stays dry most of the year and takes only 10 minutes to cross on foot, to take his son to a hospital who was bitten by a snake.
The incident took place on Monday when Rohit was bitten by a snake at around 1 am while he was asleep inside his hut in old Davdahad village of Ahwa taluka. The villagers, on seeing a panicked Mohan, called the 108 emergency services and requested them to keep the ambulance across the river at Pimpri village.
The recent rain had caused the river to swell and strong current took an hour and a half for Rohit's father Mohan to cross it. Unfortunately, Mohan had to put his son on an inflated tyre as no boats were available.
"I somehow reached the other bank and tried to wake my son, but he did not respond. I thought he might have lost consciousness. The 108 ambulance immediately drove us to the Ahwa civil hospital, where doctors examined and declared my son dead as it was too late," Mohan told The Indian Express.
The chief medical officer (CMO) of the hospital, Dr Rashmikant Kokni, said that the boy reached the hospital at 2.30 am and was not responding. Several medical treatments were provided to him, "but all efforts were in vein." On examining, the venom found in the boy's body was neurotoxic, which the doctor said is usually found in cobras.
"If the anti-venom medicine is administered within 40 minutes, there are higher chances of survival," said the CMO. Since the patient was brought late to the hospital his intra-organ failure had started by then.
Stating it as a first such incident of death due to the snake bite, the District Collector of Dangs, B Kumar, said that the entire district is forested, which makes the incident of snake bite common here.
As known from the sources in the district health department, 42 incidents of snakebites have been reported since the onset of monsoon this year.
