A housewife named Bedana Mondal, 45, has died of a snakebite in Charbhadrasan, Faridpur. She died while under treatment at Dhaka Medical College Hospital at about 11pm on Thursday 24 August.

Bedana Mondal was the wife of Amrit Mondal of Kamardangi village in Charbhadrasan upazila sadar and a mother of four.

Local and family sources said she was bitten by a snake on the afternoon of Friday 18 August while walking along a field ridge. About an hour after a local ojha tried to draw out the venom, she fell ill and was taken back to the ojha. When there was no change, she was admitted to Charbhadrasan upazila health complex. The next morning, when symptoms of poisoning appeared again, the doctor gave her antivenom and sent her to Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical College Hospital in Faridpur for better treatment. When her condition worsened there, she was admitted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital on the morning of Wednesday 23 August. After a day's treatment, she died there at about 11pm on Thursday.

Her husband, Amrit Mondal, said she died six days after the snakebite, and that it was not known what kind of snake had bitten her.

Charbhadrasan upazila health and family planning officer Hafizur Rahman said the housewife, whom he named as Bedona Mondal, developed heart and kidney complications after the snakebite and was sent to Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical College Hospital in Faridpur for better treatment. He advised people bitten by snakes to come straight to hospital rather than go to an ojha.

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