Biratnagar, September 10
An eight-year-old girl who was bitten by a snake died after she failed to receive timely treatment.
Aaswana Chauhan, the eight-year-old daughter of Asmita Chauhan of Itahari Sub-Metropolitan City–5, was bitten by a snake on Wednesday evening and died after being unable to receive timely treatment.
The girl was bitten on her left hand by a cobra while she was at home. Her family did not immediately realise that she had been bitten. They noticed only after seeing blood on her hand and took her to the Nepal Army’s snakebite treatment centre in Itahari.
However, the centre referred her to BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences in Dharan after administering antivenom, as she required intensive care. The Itahari treatment centre did not have an intensive care unit where she could be treated.
Treatment was started at BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences, but she immediately required admission to the paediatric intensive care unit (PICU). However, no PICU bed was available at the institute. All four PICU beds were occupied, making it impossible to admit her.
Her family then rushed her to Birat Teaching Hospital in Budhiganga, Morang. By the time she reached Dharan, her condition had already become critical, and it deteriorated further by the time she arrived at Birat. She died at around 8:30 pm, shortly after treatment began.
According to her uncle Maniraj Chauhan, Aaswana could have been saved if she had received intensive care in time. “When we were told that treatment was not available in Itahari, we rushed her to Ghopa [BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences]. Treatment was started there. They prepared the antivenom and put her on an IV. Then they told us she needed to be treated in a ventilator ICU, which they did not have,” Maniraj said. “We then rushed her to Birat Teaching, but we could not save her.”
Having lost a family member because she could not receive timely treatment, Maniraj said he does not want other families to suffer the same fate. “What happened at my home today should not happen to another family tomorrow,” he said. “The state must expand intensive care facilities and improve services at government hospitals.”
