The Snake Bite Treatment Centre in Kaltungo town of Gombe state, Nigeria has alerted people, particularly farmers to be vigilant as a result of increased number cases recorded in the hospital.

The officer in charge of the centre, Dr Abubakar Balla said on Monday that 70 snake bite patients were on admission in the hospital, adding that the hospital admits nine to 10 persons daily since the beginning of the rains, unlike during the dry season when two or three people were treated daily.

“We discharge people daily and admit new ones; the situation is bad, and people need to take precaution because prevention is better than cure. Those going to farm should wear boots, hand gloves and hold sticks,” he said.

Diclosing that the facility had sufficient drugs supplied by the Presidential Committee on North-East Initiative (PCNI) and the Gombe State Government, Balla advised snake bite victims to go to hospital immediately in order to save their lives.

“When a victim’s condition is critical, definitely he or she will require blood transfusion which is not advisable. Endeavor to come on time, the treatment is free of charge,” the physician said.

The Commissioner for Health, Dr Kennedy Ishaya said that over 70 per cent of patients who received treatment at the centre were not Gombe indigenes, the reason that the hospital was always over- stretched.