Bauchi records 7 deaths from snake bites in 2022

TO GO WITH AFP STORY Picture taken on February 12, 2008 showing a close-up of an extracted drop of venom pending on a serpent mouth classified as "Jararaca" (Bothrops jararaca), at the Butantan Institute, in Sao Paulo, Brazil. This 100-year-old government-funded facility, the Butantan Institute, on the edge of the sprawling University of Sao Paulo campus, counts the biggest collection of serpents in the world. Near 75,000 are coiled lifeless into alcohol-filled jars in a vast storage room, a repertoire of biological information on South American serpents. AFP PHOTO/Mauricio LIMA (Photo credit should read MAURICIO LIMA/AFP via Getty Images)

Bauchi State in the year 2022, recorded seven deaths from snake bites while an unspecified number of people were treated and healed.

The victims were mainly from Duguri District of Alkaleri LGA which is prone to snake bites because of the dense forest surrounding the area which is around the Yankari Games Reserve forest.

The disclosure was made by the Executive Chairman of the Bauchi State Primary Healthcare Development Agency (BASPHCDA), Dr Rilwanu Mohammed while briefing Journalists on the activities of the 2023 World Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) Day at the Emergency Operation Centre (EOC), Bauchi on Monday.

He said that, “We don’t have the exact number of snake bite victims but our record shows that 7 people died in 2022 of snakebite. The people are in the rural areas, before they get to where to access treatment, they die.”

Rilwanu Mohammed however said that the Governor, Sen Bala Mohammed Abdulkadir in his resolve to fight the menace, gave approval for the complete renovation of the Snakebite Hospital in Duguri to take care of the victims of the bite.

According to him, “if you go there now, you will see a new look hospital, beds and other accessories have been procured, the collapsed fence has been rebuilt, the gate and gatehouse have been replaced to secure the facility. The landscaping too has been done and the facility almost ready to be functional.”

The BASPHCDA EC said that the remaining things to be done in the facility is a 24 hours water which is paramount to the services to be provided in the facility saying that RUWASSA has been contacted to assist in rehabilitation of the existing water source in the facility as well as add another one.

He added that only recently, the Agency procured drugs and 27 packets of anti-snake venoms worth over N1m to be used in the facility adding that 6 personnel have been trained at the Special Snakebite Center in Kaltungo, Gombe State and will be deployed to the facility.

He explained that everything needed including befitting accommodation have been provided for the staff to enable them concertante and remain within the reach of victims who will access the facility.

Rilwanu Mohammed assured that in the next few weeks, the facility will become operational as the Governor will officially commissioned it to reduce to stress of the victims who have been finding it pretty difficult to access treatment anytime someone is bitten as they have to cross rivers to Plateau and Gombe States.

According to him, another problem is rabies from dog-bite which is becoming alarming in the state but assured that government is doing everything possible to provide anti-rabies vaccine urging people with dogs to bring them out for vaccination.

He assured that the Agency will continue to collaborate with the international partners operating in the state in order to make primary healthcare services available to the people particularly those rural communities across the state.