The snake rescuers should work in association with the local forest officials, take stricter safety measures and obey the Wildlife Protection Act, said Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (Wildlife) Dr Sandeep Tripathy at a workshop on ‘Occupational safety and workshop on BlS for snake rescuers of Odisha’ held at the AIIMS here on Sunday.
Tripathy thanked the Forensic Medicine and Toxicology Department and Trauma and Emergency Medicine Department of AIIMS, Bhubaneswar for tailoring such innovative ways of sharing knowledge and creating programmes for the benefit of the society.
AIIMS Bhubaneswar Director Dr Gitanjali Batmanabane applauded the noble work of snake rescuers in reducing human-snake conflict which minimises snakebites. She said this initiative by the AIIMS is the first of kind, which would encourage and benefit the delegates immensely and expected that they would further spread this knowledge to the people. Besides, she also announced treatment on a priority basis for the snake rescuers at the AIIMS here. The snake rescuers as the messengers should spread awareness among public about do’s and don’ts in cases snakebite and should blow away various prevailing myths, she added.
On the occasion, healthcare professionals, forest officials and mediapersons were educated and guided by more than 50 snake rescuers from across the State consisting of volunteers of the Snake Helpline and employees of the Forest Department. Ten delegates were felicitated with the Biju Pattnaik Wildlife Award for wildlife conservation.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) declared snakebite as a “neglected tropical disease” in 2017. As per WHO reports, India tops the list of snakebite deaths in the world with about 45,000-50,000 deaths every year.
A photography session was also held on ‘Hands on training on mannequin.’