Hyderabad: To enhance surveillance and establish a comprehensive reporting system for snakebite cases, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) has made it mandatory for all healthcare facilities to notify snakebite incidents.
Punya Salila Srivastava, Secretary of MoHFW, has written to State Principal Secretaries and Health Department officials, urging them to implement mandatory reporting of snakebite cases in their jurisdictions.
This initiative is part of the “National Action Plan for Prevention and Control of Snakebite Envenoming in India by 2030” (NAPSE), developed in collaboration with relevant ministries and stakeholders. The plan aims to reduce snakebite-related fatalities by 50% by 2030.
A key component of NAPSE is strengthening the surveillance of snakebite cases and fatalities. Accurate tracking is essential for understanding the prevalence, identifying high-risk areas, and evaluating the effectiveness of interventions, according to the Secretary’s communication.
The letter highlights the importance of mandatory reporting to improve clinical management and gather valuable data, such as the burden of cases, risk factors, and geographic hotspots. The notification system will also ensure better reporting from private healthcare facilities, which has been a challenge.
States have been requested to designate snakebite cases and fatalities as a “Notifiable Disease” under their Public Health Acts or relevant legislation. This will require both government and private healthcare institutions, including medical colleges, to report all suspected and confirmed cases and deaths related to snakebites.
