Dr Tengku Rinalfi Putra Tengku Azizan, a senior lecturer of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of Universiti Putra Malaysia, said any area not occupied by humans over 24 hours will offer snakes a place for protection and to look for food.
“Schools, for example, are mostly occupied by students for half a day from morning till afternoon while at night, it is unoccupied.
“This will raise the possibility of snakes entering the school compound such as the canteen … for protection from the sun besides offering a good source of food such as rats and frogs,” he said.
Last week a Year One schoolgirl of SK Dato’ Hashim 1 in Pengkalan Chepa, Kelantan, died after she was believed to have been bitten by a venomous snake at the school premises.
Dr Tengku Rinalfi said schools should collaborate with the relevant agencies such as the Fire and Rescue as well as the Civil Defence Departments to organise briefings to students on preliminary measures that should be taken when dealing with snakes.
“The school and local authorities should also conduct periodical inspections on the school field and playground which are believed to be the habitat for venomous creatures,” he said.
Another lecturer, Dr Ahmad Khaldun Ismail, a consultant with the Department of Emergency Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, outlined several immediate measures for victims of snake bites.
“The first step is that the victim who is in a state of shock after being bitten, should be appeased and placed in a comfortable position as well as to avoid any physical movement.
“Subsequently, support the area that was bitten with a (piece of) clean fabric and loosen the victim’s attire before taking him or her to the nearest emergency treatment centre,” he said.
Since the heatwave throughout the month of March following the El Nino phenomenon, a total of 3,780 snakes had been caught in public and residential areas throughout the country.
According to the Civil Defence Department, Selangor recorded the most number of cases at 459, followed by Perak (431), Terengganu (430) and the Federal Territories (427).
On April 19, Nuriey Nadhirah Roslan, 7, died at the Pengkalan Chepa Health Clinic after she was believed to have been bitten by a snake in a garden beside her classroom. An autopsy revealed that the cause of death was the lack of oxygen in the body due to a bite by a poisonous creature.
-BERNAMA