Snake bite kills girl, kin blame hospital

Following her death, a mob of 60 to 70 people, including her relatives and locals, gathered outside the civic hospital, protesting for a few hours.

A six-year-old girl died on Saturday morning after a cobra bit her twice on her legs in Vishnu Nagar, Dombivli. Locals and parents of the victim, Swara Waghmare, who was rushed to a civic hospital, alleged that she may have died owing to doctors’ negligence. The Class 1 student was then taken to a private hospital, where she was declared dead on arrival.

Snake bite kills girl, kin blame hospital (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Following her death, a mob of 60 to 70 people, including her relatives and locals, gathered outside the civic hospital, protesting for a few hours. According to the Vishnu Nagar police, which has taken note of the incident, the on-duty doctor at the civic hospital said she was bitten by a cobra. Senior officer R Munagekar said, Waghmare was playing near her house at Kule village, Dombivli (West), when she was bitten twice by the snake. “Her father, an auto driver, and her mother took her to a civic hospital, but as her condition was deteriorating, they shifted her to a private hospital, where she was declared dead,”he said. A relative of the girl, who did not wish to be named, said there was negligence on the part of the doctors and the hospital. He said, “The area where we stay has dense forests and snakes are common. We do take precautionary measures, we don’t allow our kids to play near the jungle. But snakes enter the residential area, which have led to many snake bite cases.”

An officer said they and the doctors explained to the protestors, including Swara’s parents, what emergency medical aids were available at the hospital. “We told them the venom had spread too far and the bite marks were big. The crowd then went back,” he said.