Bayer, NRHM join hands for snakebite management

Bayer BioScience-India, the seed company of Bayer CropScience, has joined hands with the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) for a snakebite management initiative.

Under this first-of-its-kind public-private partnership initiative, Bayer and NRHM will jointly work towards the drafting of guidelines for snakebite management and necessary treatment protocol for medical practitioners in the country.

"We recently met the Union health minister for bringing out new guidelines for snakebite management, which will be rolled out across the country," Mahesh Girdhar, head, Bayer BioScience-India, told mediapersons on the sidelines of a workshop on 'Snakebite Management in Andhra Pradesh' in Hyderabad on Wednesday.

The workshop was organised as part of Bayer's social responsibility programmes in the state.

Addressing the workshop, Ian D Simpson of WHO Snakebite Treatment Group, said a National Treatment Protocol was under review by the ministry of health, prior to becoming a policy.

"The Andhra Pradesh government too is now actively coming forward to undertake initiatives against snakebite," he added.

According to him, snakebite remains a major medical emergency in India and WHO estimates place the bite rate at 2.5 lakh and the mortality rate at 50,000 per year.

"In terms of numbers of medical locations in Andhra Pradesh, the government sector has adequate facilities. The problem in terms of snakebite is that the level of skills in treating snakebite is low, primarily due to the reliance on US medical textbooks during training. There is also a lack of specialty centres where routine access to the equipment required to deal with the complications of snakebite is available," he informed.

Keeping this in view, Simpson, said the WHO Snakebite Treatment Group had decided to provide technical advice to the Indian experts and doctors.

"On our part, we will disseminate the right treatment protocol to around 50,000 medical practitioners in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal and Rajasthan," he said.