By Reporter
Campaigns to educate residents on assisting snake bite victims get better treatment to prevent deaths in Kilifi County has kicked off.
Kilifi hospital’s medical superintendent Dr. Matano Kibwana advised residents to always rush victims to the nearest medical facilities before the snake venom gets severe.
The calls come days after a 14 year old boy from Palakumi village in Ganze Sub County was bitten by a snake but those around him delayed to rush him to hospital hence occasioning a swollen leg.
Harrison Kahindi was herding her family cattle together with his elder brother when he felt some chilling and hot burning sensation on his leg but he could not see what caused it.
It is the pain that and growling that alerted his brother who lifted him home before mobilizing villagers to rush him to Palakumi dispensary that is almost 6 kilometers away.
“I was herding cattle with my with my brother when I felt some painful bite on my foot but when I tried to find out, I could see nothing, it is my brother who rushed me home and later to Palakumi dispensary where they treated me and put me in an ambulance to Kilifi,” said Kahindi.
According to him, he was attended to briefly at the facility before the medical personnel in charge referred him to the Kilifi County Referral hospital, more than 42 kilometers away where he is recuperating.
Dr Kibwana said that the boy developed a swollen leg due to the delay to take him to the nearby health facility and that since he couldn’t identify the kind of snake, he had to undergo tests so as to ascertain the correct antivenom to be administered.
“This is a patient who came to us and he was bitten by a snake at the grazing grounds in Ganze and he was taken to the peripheral facility which is Palakumi dispensary who referred the case to us. The incident happened at around mid-day and he was taken to the peripheral facility where they were not able to manage him and almost immediately, he was rushed here by an ambulance and he arrived at 7: 40 pm and was booked,” said Dr. Kibwana.
He added that the boy was in good condition an was responding well to treatment adding there was need for residents especially in snake prone areas to be sensitized to how best to handle victims of snake bites to minimize catastrophes.
“The boy did not see the snake and so we couldn’t distinguish the type of snake bit him but due to the symptoms that he came with, he was bleeding a lot from the wound we had to do some tests and by the time he came here, the swelling was already above the knee implying that the effects of the venom had already taken place but we have managed him and he is doing well,” he said.
He now advices residents especially those residing I snake prone areas to always take precaution such as wearing shoes and in case of emergencies, they should rush victims to health facilities near to them.
“The advice is that victims of snake bites need to get care as soon as possible and the earlier you are attended to, the better because once the actual effect o the venom takes place it might be too late to give the antivenom and in some cases if you delay the antivenom will have no effect
Kenya has been experiencing a mismatch in antivenom due to lack of understanding of the type of snakes that have bitten victims and this has led to serious medical implications on victims.
The Chief Officer for health in Kilifi County David Mulewa said that they are forced to import antivenom from India which costs Sh. 12,000 per 10cc vial which is equivalent to one dose and that the risks in treating snake bite victims is that the doses must be administered by a qualified medical officer under close supervision.
In Kilifi County, many residents rely on traditional healers are always there to help especially in rural Kilifi but they only treat non venomous snake bites using charms and refer venomous snake bites to medical facilities, unfortunately, the number of healers has drastically reduced with modernity.
Venom varies from snake to snake even within the same species depending with the region it is from and producing antivenom is challenging because it requires venom from snakes of all ages, different eco zones and different seasons and in Kenya there is no facility that manufactures antivenom hence it is imported from foreign nations such as South Africa and India and the wrong antivenom can kill a victim.
