The patient lived, my tears flowed

 The patient lived, my tears flowed

As usual, on 16th of August, I was handling the evening duty in the emergency ward. Brother Dr. Sanjiv Yadav, emergency ward bed no. Giving me the file of 5, he said, "Brother, this is a case (patient) from the OPD." The surgery, medicine and ENT departments have seen it, now the mental department has to see it. So far, no disease has been observed.

22-year-old Shankar Tharu of Badhaiyatal-5 Bardia came to Nepalganj Medical College Teaching Hospital Kohalpur emergency with stomachache and difficulty in speaking. When he looked sick, he looked like he was drunk. The patient had no such chronic disease (history). Doctors from all departments had seen it. The cause of the problem was not yet discovered. However, the patient's health was deteriorating.

I left with my neck raised, I had no control over the patient's body. After that, I called the relatives of the patient and got information about the place where he was staying and the surrounding environment. According to the relatives of the patient, Shankar Tharu used to work in a factory, he was sleeping outside under a tin roof, there is a grass field around the place where he was sleeping, it had rained all night the previous day.

After taking all this information, I was sure that it was a case of snake bite. Dr. Paras Pandey and Dr. Rajesh Kumar Mandal while giving training at Bheri Hospital said that if a snake bites, the effect of its venom starts from the eyes and gradually reaches the neck. The patient's speech stops, the body becomes stiff, the patient seems to be sleeping in a deep sleep.

During the training, trainer Kamal Devkota sir, who came from Butwal, also taught about identifying poisonous snakes and non-poisonous snakes and some of their characteristics. According to him, most of the patients do not know that they have been bitten by a curate snake. This snake is very active at night. There is no mark or pain in the place where this snake has bitten. Therefore, some patients do not know that they have been bitten by a curate snake. Suddenly from morning, the patient becomes serious and dies without being diagnosed. However, symptoms such as pain, bleeding and swelling are seen at the site of Goman i.e. cobra snake bite.

I don't know how many patients I have saved so far, but I was feeling very happy to save this patient

Shankar's disease was undiagnosed, there was no sign of snake bite, but the symptoms were similar to snake bite, the muscles active in the patient's breathing were gradually paralyzed and the patient's condition was deteriorating, so I was sure that it was a snake bite.

But since Nepalgunj Medical College, where I work, is a private hospital, there is no snakebite treatment here. Therefore, there was no option to refer the snake bitten patients to Bheri Hospital which is 15-20 km away from Kohalpur. If the patient was referred at the same time, there was a possibility of death due to respiratory arrest on the way. Therefore, with the permission of his father, the patient was given artificial respiration by putting a pipe in his mouth. In medical terms, intubation was done.

Before that, the chief anesthesiologist of Bheri Regional Hospital, Dr. I called Paras Pandey dai and told him in detail about the patient that he was going to refer. He said to send it as soon as possible. Until then, the resident of anesthesia Dr. Vivek also came to the emergency ward. Before I decided, the resident friends Dr. Arjun and Dr. I told this to Kavir and the patient was immediately referred to Bheri Hospital.

The next day, the WhatsApp bell rang. That Dr. A message came from Paras. It was written that the patient's condition is improving. I was delighted. The next day, a message came with a photo of the patient. It was written in it - the patient himself is breathing naturally, not with the help of a pipe. After three days, the patient regained consciousness.

My conclusion that the patient was bitten by a snake was correct and the patient was cured after treating accordingly. I don't know how many patients I have saved so far, but I was feeling very happy to save this patient. Because my attempt to give a new life to the dying patient was successful. I went to another hospital and met the patient and the relatives of the patient. Rakesh Kumar Tharu, father of the patient, thanked me. Tears of joy flowed from my eyes.

One of the people who provide training on snakebite when returning from seeing patients, is a physician from the Department of Medicine at Bheri Regional Hospital. Rajesh dai met. When I told him about the patient and why I had come to the hospital, he was a little more interested. The next day Dr. Rajesh Dai informed that the patient has been discharged and has started leading a completely normal life. The patient was discharged after 5 days i.e. on 21st of August. Then with the permission of patients and relatives of patients, I shared my little experience here.

The three-day training I took at Bheri Hospital related to snake bite was applied here. This is a lesson on how important the result of a doctor making the right decision at the right time is.

That is why my guru who inspired me to take this training. Sumit Pandey Sir, Chief Anesthesiologist of Bheri Zonal Hospital who called me to come for training. I am grateful to Paras Pandey dai, Roshni sister and Nirpendra sir from the administration room of Nepalgunj Medical College.

What I felt from the incident I mentioned above is that every doctor and health worker should get training related to snakebite. Bringing this training to the local level stays In particular, I would like to say more seriously to the health workers that even if there is no sign of snake bite, he has not slept well indoors or outdoors during the summer and rain, the patient is losing consciousness when he wakes up in the morning, it is difficult to open his eyes, it is difficult to get his tongue out. If it is difficult to speak, the patient seems to be stuck, the body is not under control, if the stomach hurts for no reason, be careful that it may be a snake bite. If the thinking and conscience of all of us can save someone's life, then think seriously about it and be active in treatment.

Another thing that we should all be aware of is that not all snakes are poisonous. Snakes only bite humans for self-defense if they feel unsafe. Let's take measures to avoid snake bites. So if we see a snake, we don't try to kill it. Because it is from that snake's venom that you and we become the medicine we need to treat a snake bite.

(Dr. Acharya is working in Nepalgunj Medical College, Kohalpur, Banke.)