Mega Workshop Held in Gomati to Curb Snakebite Deaths in Rural Areas
Sep 11, 2026
A mega awareness workshop on snakebite and wildlife bite management was held this week at the Panchayat Raj Training Institute in Udaipur, organised by the National Health Mission of Gomati district, with the aim of bringing rural snakebite deaths down to zero and ensuring timely medical treatment.
A total of 185 representatives took part in the workshop, including ASHA workers, ANMs, MPWs, CHOs, TRLM's "Health Sakhi" workers, Apda Mitras and civic volunteers from across the district. The main objective of the session was to teach participants simple ways to distinguish venomous snakes from non-venomous ones, along with the correct first response after a snakebite.
Physician and snake expert Dr. Uday Shankar Sarkar and wildlife conservator Deeptanu Debnath attended the workshop as experts. District Programme Officer Dr. Soumik Chakraborty recalled their long standing contribution to snake rescue, conservation and awareness building, and said he hoped the training would help health workers perform more effectively at the community level. It was stated at the workshop that the joint efforts of the health department and the experts had successfully handled around 15 snakebite cases in the district over the past five and a half months.
Dr. Sarkar described the first hundred minutes after a snakebite as the "golden period" for treatment. "If the patient is taken to hospital within this time and given anti-venom, it is possible to save the life. Anti-venom, along with anti-rabies vaccine for other wildlife bites, is available completely free of cost at all district and sub-divisional hospitals, CHCs and PHCs in the district," he said.
The workshop also carried a clear message that snakebite or wildlife bite victims should never be taken to ojhas or traditional healers, since such practices are of no use against venomous bites and only increase the risk of death by wasting crucial time. Patients, it was advised, should be rushed to the nearest government hospital immediately.
Meanwhile, the health department appealed to the public not to kill snakes or other wildlife, stating that ensuring healthy coexistence between humans and wildlife remained one of the key goals of the initiative.
