Health authorities in Ruweng Administrative Area’s Abiemnhom County on Tuesday reported that they have recorded 60 snakebite cases over the last three months.
Earlier this week, the administrative area’s health ministry reported 80 cases of snakebites in the Parieng area which were attributed to flooding which led to people and reptiles competing for dry higher grounds.
Ruweng Administrative Area Health Minister Achol Bol told Radio Tamazuj on Tuesday that the 60 cases were documented at different health centers in Abiemnhom County between August and the start of November.
“All the health facilities were full of patients from snake bites,” she stated.
Bol said the increased snakebites are due to floods across the administrative area but added that the local government is working very hard to mitigate the situation by providing antivenoms to treat affected people.
“In the last four months, as the ministry of health in Ruweng Administrative Area, we presented a budget that was approved by the chief administrator and we bought the antivenoms from Juba,” she said. “No deaths were reported from the 60 snakebite cases between August and November but they were referred to Abiemnhom Hospital where there are enough antivenoms for medical treatment.”