New Delhi:
Noting that the problem of snakebite is prevalent “throughout the country”, the Supreme Court on Monday asked the Center to “do something” by taking all states together to provide treatment for snakebite in medical facilities.

Justice B.R. Gavai and Justice S.V.N. Bhatti’s bench was hearing a petition which said the country was facing a major public health crisis due to shortage of anti-venom, crucial for the treatment of snake bites. The bench told the Centre’s counsel, “You can also include the states in this. The problem is in the entire country.”

It further said, “You can try to do something by meeting with representatives of all the states. This is not an adversarial case.” The Centre’s counsel said that the government will keep on record the steps taken on this issue.

Lawyers of some states said that they would file their counter affidavit in this case, after which the bench gave them six weeks time and adjourned the hearing of the case till then.

On December 13 last year, the Supreme Court had sought response from the Center and others on the petition filed by lawyer Shailendra Mani Tripathi.

The petition has requested for instructions to provide ‘anti-venom’ and snakebite treatment in health centres, government hospitals and medical colleges to save the lives of the victims.

The petition, filed through advocate Chand Qureshi, argued that India, the country with the highest rate of deaths due to snake bites in the world, has around 58,000 deaths every year. “Despite such high mortality rates, there is a shortage of antivenom (polyvenom),” it argued.

The petition states that there is not enough stock of ‘anti-venom’ medicine in many rural areas of the country, due to which there is delay in the treatment of snakebite victims.

Therefore, the petition requested for instructions to run a snakebite prevention health mission and a public awareness campaign to reduce the mortality rate, especially in rural areas.

The petition also sought directions to set up snakebite treatment and care units with specially trained doctors as per standard medical norms in government district hospitals and medical colleges.