Superstition, ignorance and sheer apathy only make matters worse.

Earlier this year, Chirag Roy, an experienced naturalist and snake rescuer, was bitten by a venomous snake near the Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve in Maharashtra.

The region is home to the four most venomous snakes in India. Even so, it lacked the infrastructure and resources to treat Roy. The nearest equipped hospital was two hours away, and Roy didn’t survive.

In India, snakebite kills more than 45,000 people every year. A further 2 lakh lose their limbs after being bitten by snakes while it is estimated that only one in seven cases actually reach a hospital. The most vulnerable are the men and women who plough the fields, making it a “poor man’s problem” that is utterly neglected.

And then matters are only made worse by superstition, ignorance and sheer apathy.

In this episode of The Intersection, experts from the field discuss the different types of venom, the aftermath of a cobra bite, the use of horses in the making of anti-venom and raising awareness about this very avoidable cause of death.

Image credit: Diptendu Dutta/AFP

Padmaparna Ghosh and Samanth Subramanian

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author’s own