A Definitive Cure for Snake Bite

Shaken by a snake bite death under his watch, this Assam doctor pioneered a treatment model that is saving numerous afflicted lives, Prasanta Mazumdar writes

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In 2006, Dr. Surajit Giri faced a moment that would shape the rest of his career. A woman bitten by a snake was rushed into the emergency ward of a private hospital in Assam's Sivasagar district, where Giri had just begun working after completing his post-graduation in anesthesiology. He was not trained in treating snakebites, so he referred her to the Assam Medical College and Hospital in Dibrugarh. She died on the way.

Though no one blamed him, the incident haunted him. "She had two children; they were inconsolable. I was helpless," he recalls. "She had respiratory problems. Being a trained ICU physician, I could have kept her on ventilation, but I didn't know what to do next. Antivenom was available, but I didn't dare to administer it."

Now, nearly two decades later, hospitals across Assam are saving snakebite victims, thanks to a treatment model pioneered by Dr. Giri and his team at the Demow Rural Community Health Centre in Sivasagar, where he has worked since 2008.