A 35-year-old tribal man, who was carried on foot from Attukarandurai tribal hamlet in Alleri hillock in Vellore district to a hospital 17 km away after he was bitten by a snake, died on the way early Thursday.
The police said around 12.30 a.m on Thursday, C. Sankar, a labourer, was sleeping in front of his tin roof house. His wife and two daughters, who were sleeping inside the house, woke up startled when Sankar raised an alarm. They saw a snake around the right hand of Sankar. Immediately, one of his daughters hit it with a wooden log. The snake fell and slithered away to the thick bushes.
Along with a few men, the family members carried Sankar in a cloth sling from the hamlet to Alleri, which forms part of Peechamanthai village in Jawadhu Hills, on foot. However, it was alleged that he died before they reached Alleri village where the round-the-clock ambulance service and a village health nurse were available. “Neither the ambulance driver nor the nurse was informed about the snake bite. Residents were given the phone numbers of them for emergencies. Precious time was lost by carrying him on foot,” K. Banumathi, Deputy Director of Health Services (DDHS), Vellore, told The Hindu.
Based on the alert, the police and health officials from Anaicut Taluk Hospital went to the hamlet on Thursday morning and brought the body to the Government Medical College in Vellore for post-mortem. A case has been registered by Anaicut police.
Thursday’s incident comes nearly two months after a 18-month-old baby girl in Athimarathurkollai, a neighbouring hamlet in Alleri hillock, died on the way to hospital in Anaicut on May 28 when her parents took her on foot as the area had no road.
Following that incident, Collector P. Kumaravel Pandian met the family members and launched an ambulance service between Alleri hillock and government hospital in Anaicut on June 6. The district administration also awaits a nod from the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) to acquire a portion of RF land to lay a 5.25 km bitumen stretch at a cost of ₹5 crore under Chief Minister Rural Roads Improvement Scheme.
