70 persons suffer snakebites in four months in Narayangaon area Ten-year-old Hrishikesh Wable from Junnar taluka in Pune district did not realise he was bitten by a snake till he was gasping for breath and could not walk. Villagers who wasted precious time thinking it was a "scorpion" bite instead took him to a "tantrik" to cure him. However. when he turned unconscious, the relatives rushed him to Narayangaon, 20 km away from the Wadgaon Sahane village where he was put on the sole ventilator at the Dr Jal Mehta Rural Critical Care Centre. Hrishikesh who was bitten by a cobra, showed neuroparalytic symptoms and had respiratory failure. He recovered after being on the ventilator for two days. "Had there been further delay he would not have made it," says Dr Sadanand Raut , director of the centre while highlighting superstitions prevalent among rural folks and the need for timely treatment in such cases. According to the rural hospital officials at Narayangaon, there have been 70 persons who have suffered from snakebite in the last four months. With last year's record number of 565 patients bitten by snakes in Pune district, the health officials are on an alert this monsoon. Pune Zilla Parishad health officer Dr H H Chavan admits that in April and May itself there were 49 patients in Pune district who were bitten by snakes. Twenty-four cases were from the "infamous" Narodi village in Ambegaon taluka. Narodi village had seen 16 deaths in the last two years with over 100 being bitten. This had led Dr P P Doke, director of Health Services, Maharashtra, to launch an investigation last year. When contacted, Doke claimed that the mortality rate has come down. "We took immediate measures after the deaths were reported, provided the anti-snake venom at the primary health centres and sent emergency mobile vans to the villages which brought down the mortality rate,'' Doke said. According to Chavan, a sub-centre has also been built at Narodi at Rs 15 lakh. A majority of the cases of snakebites are from Junnar, Ambegaon and Khed taluka. The district health officials have supplied the stock of anti-snake venoms to the private practitioners at three hospitals and informed the villagers on how to identify live snakes and administer primary aid. The awareness camps have been held in 150 villages, Chavan said. Raut who also has formed a Sarpa Mitra organisation said that they have trained 15-20 volunteers