The authorities in Mayom County of Unity State say there has been an increase in snake bites as severe floods continue being experienced in parts of the area.
Jonglei, Unity, Upper Nile, Western and Northern Bahr el Ghazal are among the states the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) considers the most flood-affected in the country.
Last week, OCHA said there were over 8,000 people affected by flooding in areas along the Nile and Lol rivers and the Sudd marshlands since May.
Dr. Talimat Mathiot Chan, the county health director at Mayom County Hospital, told radio Tamazuj on Thursday that over 400 snake bite cases were recorded in the area last month.
Chan revealed that 200 other cases had also been registered in early November.
“Last month, we had like 400 cases of snake bites, and in the current month, we have 200 cases of snake bites,” Chan said. “We have anti-venom, but we use it within the capacity of PHCC level. We don’t take it to the PHCU level because at the PHCC level there are trained doctors.”
He added that inaccessibility due to flooding has hindered health officials from delivering the anti-venom to the healthcare units.
Dr Chan, however, said no death cases have been recorded so far.