UMERKOT: With the onset of extreme heat in Thar desert, poisonous snakes have come out of their sand hideouts in Thar desert, bitting 43 people in a month.

During a month period, 43 snake bite patients were brought to Civil Hospital Umerkot. The patients include Nanji, Mohammad Hashim, Jalal, Marfat, Mohammad Yaqub, Rehmatullah, Azeem and others.

Snake bites are occurring in different villages of Thar located in talukas of Mithi, Islamkot, Chachro. The most affected villages are Dahli, Khokhrapar, Batharo, and Sekhro.

Villagers said that snake bites cause many deaths in Thar every year. The district administration or the health department does not take any precautionary measures against these snakes. The poor people of area have been compelled to take precautionary measures against the snakes on his own.

Snake bite patients are being brought to Civil Hospital Umerkot from different villages of Thar. A villager Ali Sher Rahimoon told PPI: “Snake bite issue is one of the most neglected public health problem in Thar area, which needs immediate measures to save the people, particularly farmers who works in the field.”

Thar is the Pakistan’s most affected region by snake bites. The people of this backward area apply inappropriate treatment against snake bites as a result, most of bitten people die before reaching hospitals as there is no proper sources of transportation, says Sher. He said that the government should establish anti-snake bite centres in the cities and towns of Thar to save people.

Dr Azam Khosa, Medical Superintendent, Civil Hospital Umerkot, in an exclusive interview to PPI, said that they had ample vaccines for snake bite treatment in the hospital. He said that snake bite patients are brought to the hospital from remote areas of Thar Desert. We are providing all possible treatment facilities to the patients in the hospital, he added.