Kheri man takes along Indian cobra that bit him to CHC, shocks staff

The staff of a community health centre (CHC) in Pallia of Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Kheri district was in for a shock when a man walked in there for treatment carrying along in a plastic jar the venomous snake that bit him.

The incident came to light after a video of the incident went viral on Saturday. Reportedly, an unknown CHC staff made the video of the entire incident and later posted it on social media.

Confirming it, Pallia CHC superintendent Bharat Singh said one Hari Swaroop Mishra, 47, of Kheri’s Swaroop Nagar locality visited the centre on Thursday (August 22). There was panic when the staff saw him carrying the Indian cobra that had bitten him, he added.

“The man was a bit aware of basic things that a person should do after snakebite and he had even tied his left hand thump tightly with a plastic string where the snake has bitten. So, the venom had not spread much. His thump had completely turned blue,” Singh said. “We administered him anti-venom dose on time and he is perfectly all right. He was discharged on Friday,” he said.

“Indian cobra or ‘Nag’ as they are called in Hindi is venomous and its venom is neurotoxic. Medical support can help the victim in the first 2-3 hours. Otherwise, the victim can go into coma or even die in 6 to 7 hours,” said Ravi K Singh, conservator of forest, Varanasi.

In the 31-second video that went viral, Mishra could be purportedly seen informing doctors with a smile on his face about the incident. He said he was bitten by the snake while he was removing some of his old items kept in his house in Swaroop Nagar.

He further said he brought along the snake to show it to doctors so that he could get the right treatment. In the video, the staff at the CHC could also be heard praising the man’s courage.

“This is the only snake that can make hood as a display of defence. They are found almost in all parts of Uttar Pradesh in black, grey and other similar colours. The person bitten by this snake has to be kept awake and the anti-venom doses (up to 10 doses) are to be provided to them,” Ravi K Singh, conservator of forest, Varanasi, added.

“Several years earlier, the forest department had asked the health department to keep stock of polyvalent anti-venom doses at community health centre levels. In India, 90% snakes found are non-venomous while in remaining 10% only four snakes make the maximum cases of snake-bite,” he said.

“Indian Cobra, Indian Common krait, Indian Russell’s viper and Indian Saw-scaled viper are the four snakes for which only polyvalent vaccine is sufficient for patients,” said Singh who is member in several state level committees of the department.

He further said in case of a snakebite, it is better to rush to a medical centre instead of wasting time in other unproven methods. “Also near the snakebite location, remove all rings or pressure giving items if the patient is wearing them. In such cases, there could severe swelling,” Singh added.