KOLKATA: A local ‘Ojha’, a Bengali term for exorcist or traditional healer, who was often called to treat snakebite victims, died after being bitten by a venomous snake himself.
Krishna Mondal (54), a resident of Jabagram, a rural village in Bengal’s Purba Bardhaman district died on Thursday. Though he was known in the area as a healer, his family members said he had largely stopped practising in recent years.
Police said Mondal was bitten by a Russell’s viper while cutting grass in a field on Wednesday afternoon. Instead of going to a hospital immediately, he reportedly spent time performing traditional rituals and relying on folk remedies.
When his condition worsened, his brother Sagar Mondal said he was taken to the nearby Bhatar State General Hospital, where doctors declared him dead.
Despite repeated government campaigns warning against relying on Ojhas for snakebite treatment, it has been reported that many villagers still prefer such folk healers first.
Snakebites are frequent among agricultural workers in Bengal since they do not adopt the necessary preventive measures. In Bengal, the main worry is regarding the ‘Big Four’, namely the Indian cobra, the Monocled Cobra (which is locally called Gokhra), the Common Krait (known as Kalaj) and Russell’s Viper (called Chandrabora).
The cobras and the Common Krait have venom that is mainly neurotoxic and therefore affects the nervous system, while Russell’s Viper has hemotoxic (or vasculotoxic) venom which mainly impacts the blood and the circulatory system.
Chandan Claiment Singh, who is an expert and researcher on snakes, recently stated that a person named Durga Sarkar (61) died from a snakebite when she was visiting her daughter’s house in the Shaktipur area in Bengal’s Hooghly district on June 26.
Ponchomi Haldar, who lived in Raghunathpur Jamtala in South 24 Parganas, died two days ago following a bite from a Common Krait. Earlier, a person named Subhra Samanta (58) from Bengal’s Howrah also died as a result of a bite from a Common Krait. - The Statesman/ANN
