Begin typing your search above and press return to search.

Lack of anti-venom at Udalguri health centres

By Correspondent

UDALGURI, Dec 16 - The District Legal Service Authority (DLSA), Udalguri has expressed its grave concern over the poor health service at the hospitals and health centre of the district which are without basic medicines. Taking a dig at the sorry state of the health services, AK Borah, District and Sessions judge- cum-chairman of the DLSA, Udalguri wrote a letter to the Joint Director of Health Services, Udalguri district way back on May 30 of the current year vide letter No. DLSA (U) 432, highlighting the importance of anti-venom at Udalguri hospitals.

The DLSA letter quoted, �snake bites are is not an uncommon phenomenon in this part of the country. As per one data published recently in The Indian Express newspaper, more than 50,000 people die every year in India due to snake bites and the situation therefore is alarming.� The situation is similar in Udalguri district, where hospitals did not stock anti-venom drugs.

The DLSA letter further observed that Udalguri district has a large area under tea cultivation with bushes and shrubs around. There are hills and jungles and marshy land and in such habitats, incidents of snake bites cannot be uncommon. The DLSA chairman added that he had come to know from the members of the Udalguri Bar Association of two such unfortunate incidents, one occurring at Rowta and the other at Tangla where lives were lost due to snake bites, due to the unavailability of anti-venom and other necessary medical facilities locally. �Such a situation cannot be allowed to continue, for human life is precious,� the DLSA letter observed.

It further asked the Joint Director of Health Services, whether anti-venom was available for all four major types of snake bite in the civil hospital of Udalguri or not. He also requested the Health Department to take urgent, immediate and effective steps to make the facility available at the earliest.

But the DLSA expressed its concern by saying that even after informing the concerned Health Department, copies of which were also dispatched to the Commissioner and Secretary to the Government of Assam, Department of Health, the Principal Secretary, BTC, Kokrajhar, the member secretary, ASLA, the Deputy Commissioner of Udalguri and the Officer on Special Duty to the Chief Secretary of the State Government, no response was found till date on this important matter.

Meanwhile, some conscious citizens of the Udalguri town told this correspondent that the adverse effect of the ongoing shortage of doctors in the entire State was also being experienced in the civil hospital at Udalguri, where the concerned executive member for Health services and family welfare of the BTC hadn�t visited the civil hospital till date to take stock of the situation after the formation of the new BTC Assembly.

Next Story