Donkorkrom (Eastern Region) 28 May ?99

Snake bites have been identified as a perennial condition in the Afram Plains in the Eastern Region.

The peak of the bites is the dry season, when the people, mostly yam farmers, are harvesting their produce. Fishermen also get bitten during fishing expeditions.

The district director of health Services, Dr Augustine Ankuvie, who disclosed this yesterday at Donkorkrom during the fourth regional "Meet the Press" series, could not, however, give the number of people who die from snake bites immediately, but said "quite a number die annually."

The situation is not due to distance from the hospital, which has adequate anti-snake serum, but to ignorance and delay on the part of victims in reporting to the hospital,he explain.

Dr Ankuvie also attributed the problem to the cost of treatment which, he said, is very expensive, considering the income levels of the people in the area. On the other hand, the people believe in traditional medicine as a cure for the bites.

He said the prevalence of the guinea worm disease in the district is not due to lack of potable water but rather, to "importation" from other endemic districts by some migrant farmers.

Dr Ankuvie noted that, ante-natal attendance by pregnant women has increased to about 2,000 a month in the four ante-natal centres in the district since the introduction of the free ante-natal care by the government last year.

He said ante-natal attendance used to be a major problem in the district, and this led to complications during child delivery.