CHENNAI: The director of Public Health and Preventive Medicine instructed district health officers to ensure round-the-clock availability of anti-snake venom and anti-rabies vaccine in all primary health centres.
According to Dr T S Selvavinayagam, the director, animal bites continue to be a significant public health problem in Tamil Nadu. In 2023, 4,41,804 dog bite cases and 18 rabies death were reported. In the first half of 2024, the number of dog bite cases reached 2,42,782 and rabies death touched 22. There were 19,795 and 7,310 snake bite cases in 2023 and 2024 (till June), respectively.
The DPH instructed the officers to refer snake bite cases to tertiary care centres only after giving them anti-snake venom and there is no necessity for a test dose before administering it.
Also, anti-rabies vaccine should be administered without any hesitancy of wastage of doses. There should not be any denial or refusal to administer ARV even during night hours, the director added.