More than 30 internally displaced people (IDPs) from four villages in the north of Kanbalu Township, Sagaing Region, have suffered from snakebites since June, according to healthcare workers helping the IDPs.

“Villagers, as they fled fighting through forests and farms, were bitten by snakes,” said a healthcare worker.

Four have died from snakebites since June, added the healthcare worker.

Three people aged 23, 38 and 50, respectively, were bitten by vipers between October 10 and 14, but they survived as they received antivenoms in time, according to another health worker.

“We are short of antivenoms. That’s why some people died,” he said.

While local civilian authorities lack the necessary funds to buy antivenoms, the junta’s security checks also make supplies unreliable, according to volunteers helping IDPs.

“An anti-venom produced by [state-owned pharmaceutical factory] BPI costs at least 30,000 kyats. And anti-venom imported from India costs between 55,000 and 60,000 kyats. Again, it is difficult to buy them because of checkpoints along the road,” said a volunteer from Kanbalu.

Vipers, cobras and banded kraits are of primary concern when it comes to snakebites, according to locals.

Kanbalu Township residents have often been forced to flee into surrounding forests due to frequent clashes between junta troops and local resistance forces.

Caption: Internally displaced people (IDPs) from Zaw Chaung Village in Kanbalu Township, Sagaing Region, receive treatment for snakebites. (Photo: Kyunhla Activists Group)