The Supreme Court asked the Centre to take all states on board to “do something” in making available snakebite treatment in all medical facilities, having noted that the issue was prevalent throughout the country.
A bench of Justices B R Gavai and Justice S V N Bhatti said the country faced a significant public health crisis due to the scarcity of anti-venom, crucial in treating snakebites. “You can take the states on board. The problem is prevalent throughout the country,” the bench told the Centre’s counsel. The court was hearing a plea filed by lawyer, Shailendra Mani Tripathi, seeking a direction to make available poly-venom (anti-venom) and snakebites treatment at PHCs, CHCs (Primary/ Community Health Centres), and district hospitals along with all the government hospitals in the country.
The court also asked the counsel for the Union government to coordinate with the States and find a solution. The counsel for Uttar Pradesh and Chattisgarh sought time to file a reply. The court granted them four weeks to file their respective replies in four weeks and fixed the matter for further hearing after 4 weeks. The lawyer for the Centre said that the matter was not an adversarial litigation and the government would place on record its steps taken on the issue.
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