I just saw this article and couldn't resist looking up information about snake bites. I remember reading about the number of fatalities from bites when I did an article on venomous caterpillars. I stunned by the number of deaths, worldwide, from snake bites. There are hundreds of thousands, perhaps more because reporting is so inaccurate. Mostly children, women and farmers in rural areas,where antivenom isn't available. Once again, as always, we come back to accessible healthcare. I know this sounds naive, but this really is wrong. According to WHO, the number of disabilities that result are three times the number of deaths.
It was wonderful you were able to help the child. You saved a life :)
This is my fear. Many people were castigating us for taking the child to the hospital, citing different alternate medicines that could have been used. My fear was. what if we resort to that and it did not work? Won't it be too late by then? If only there is an accurate data on the deaths and disabilities from snake bites, no one would dare proffer alternate medicines as the only solution. For first aid? Perhaps fine.