Sohel Gazi, 35, has died of a snakebite in Chandpur despite being given antivenom. A venomous snake bit him around midday on Tuesday, 7 October, while he was selling milk at Ishanbala Bazar in Haimchar upazila.

Sohel Gazi lived in Nilkamal union of the upazila and was a milk trader by profession.

His family said he was taken to Chandpur Government General Hospital about an hour and a half to two hours after the bite. The doctor gave him antivenom, but he died shortly afterwards.

Family members said they could not understand how he died after antivenom was given when he had reached hospital alive.

Dr Anisur Rahman, the duty doctor at Chandpur Government General Hospital, said the patient could not hold his head up or open his eyes when he was brought in. "The hospital had antivenom and we gave it quickly. The snake was extremely venomous. Such deaths often happen because patients die before reaching hospital or arrive late."

"It is essential to come to hospital as quickly as possible after a snakebite," he added. "If there is a delay the venom spreads through the body and it becomes hard to save a life."

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.