Rural and Remote Health

rrh.org.au
James Cook University ISSN 1445-6354

Short Communication

Effect of COVID-19 containment measures on access to snakebite care in India

AUTHORS

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Soumyadeep Bhaumik1 PhD *

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Gian Luca Di Tanna2 PhD, Professor

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Deepti Beri3 MSW

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Amritendu Bhattacharya4 MSc

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Pratyush Kumar5 DNB

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Surajit Giri6 MD

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Maya Gopalakrishnan7 MD

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Sadanand Raut8 MD

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Amol Hartalkar 9 MD

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Sumanth Mallikarjuna Majgi 10 MD

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Jagnoor Jagnoor11 PhD

AFFILIATIONS

1, 11 The George Institute for Global Health, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia; and The George Institute for Global Health, New Delhi, India

2 The George Institute for Global Health, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia; and Department of Innovative Technologies, University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland, Lugano, Switzerland

3, 4 The George Institute for Global Health, New Delhi, India

5 Patna Medical College and Hospital, Patna, Bihar, India

6 Demow Community Health Centre, Sivasagar, Assam, India

7 All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India

8 Vighnahar Nursing Home, Pune, Maharashtra, India

9 Dr. Amol Hartalkar's Cardio-Diabetes Clinic, Pune, Maharashtra, India

10 Mysore Medical College and Research Institute, Mysore, Karnataka, India

ACCEPTED: 10 March 2023


early abstract:

Introduction: Extensive spread of COVID-19 meant action to address the pandemic took precedence, over routine service delivery,  thus impacting access to care for many health conditions, including snakebite.
Method: We prospectively collected facility-level data from multiple health facilities (HFs) in India, including number of snakebite admissions and  snakebite envenoming admissionson modality of transport to reach the HF .  To analyze the the effect of a HF being in cluster-containment zone, we used negative binomial regression analysis.
Result: Our findings suggest that that HFs located within a COVID containment zone saw significant decrease in total snakebite admissions [IRR = 0.64(0.43 to 0.94),SE=0.13,P>|z|=0.02) ] and envenoming snakebite admissions[IRR = 0.43(0.23 to 0.81), SE=0.14,  P>|z|=0.01] , compared to when HFs were not within a COVID containment zone. There was no statistically significant difference in non-envenoming admissions, and modalities of transport used to reach HF.
Conclusion: The article provides the first quantitative estimation of the impact of COVID-19 containment measures on access to snakebite care. More research is needed to understand how containment measures altered care-seeking pathway and the nature of snake-human-environment conflict. Primary healthcare systems need to be safeguarded for snakebite care to mitigate effects of cluster-containment measures.