By Hou Akot Hou
A 42-year-old woman in Gak-rol Payam, Aweil South County, Northern Bahr El Ghazal State, succumbed to a snake bite over the weekend.
The victim, identified as Amiir Akol, was walking to the market when she met her tragic end.
Gabriel Deng Garang, a relative of the deceased, told this outlet that the village was shocked by the incident, adding that the woman rushed to a clinic for an injection, which was too late.
“This woman was bitten three times on her leg, and we don’t know whether it was the same snake or not. The injections that were given didn’t yield a positive result, and she passed on immediately,” he narrated.
Garang urged state authorities to build roads to swiftly transport medical emergencies to the state’s capital and other equipped health units for attention.
“I want to appeal to our state government to work hard on constructing even feeder roads in the Payams that are in hard-to-reach areas in order to allow people to rush their relatives in complications for treatment; we blame this on poor road connections as such,” Deng echoed.
Health authorities in Aweil Centre County also said they have recorded between June and August 154 cases of snake bites, with four of them confirmed dead: three males and one female.
The medics attribute the deaths to a lack of anti-venom injections and urge partners to assist in emergencies like snake bites during the busy rainy season.
The medics further urge residents across the state to be vigilant against snakes and promptly transport patients to hospitals for anti-venom jabs.