An 80-year-old woman from Ambadi village, Kamptee tehsil, is dead — not just because of a cobra’s bite, but because her neighbors chose rituals over a hospital.
On Monday morning, Chandrabaga Bhusari was bitten on the hand by a 4-foot Indian cobra hiding behind a drum. Mistaking it for a rat bite, she sat in pain for nearly an hour. When the snake was spotted, instead of rushing her to a doctor, villagers dragged her to a temple for mantras and rituals, convinced they could “neutralize” the venom.
By the time sarpa mitra (snake rescuer) Roshan Sahare arrived and identified the snake as highly venomous, precious minutes had been lost. Despite his urgent pleas, the family delayed medical care.
She was eventually taken to the Primary Health Centre for first aid, and then to Government Medical College & Hospital with the help of Wildlife Welfare Society (WWS) volunteers. But the “golden hour” for administering anti-snake venom was gone. She was declared dead on arrival at 10:20 am.
“This is another life lost to blind faith,” said WWS secretary Nitish Bhandakkar. “Snake venom works fast. Only anti-venom in government hospitals saves lives. Delay kills.”
Snakebite deaths are surging in rural Maharashtra, not because treatment is unavailable, but because superstition stands in the way. WWS and the health department are now racing to educate villages before more lives are needlessly sacrificed to ignorance.
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