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Goa Mandates Snake Bite Reporting: New Health Act Enforced
14 Aug
Summary
- Snake bite incidents and fatalities must now be reported to health authorities in Goa.
- The Directorate of Health Services has notified this under Section 57 of the Goa Public Health Act.
- The new rule aims to establish a legal basis for a comprehensive snake bite registry.
In a significant public health move, Goa has made the reporting of snake bite incidents and resultant deaths mandatory for all health authorities. This directive, enacted immediately, falls under Section 57 of the Goa Public Health Act, 1985, classifying snake bites among notified diseases. Medical practitioners, hospital managers, and heads of households are now legally obligated to report any known snake bite cases with utmost urgency to local health officials. This measure, effective immediately, aims to establish the state's first legal basis for a comprehensive snake bite registry.
The Goan government's decision comes after a physiotherapist died from a snake bite in May 2026 near the Goa-Karnataka border. Inadequate medical facilities and poor connectivity hampered immediate treatment, leading to the fatality. A study between 2020 and 2024 revealed 1,663 snake bite cases and 30 deaths in Goa, with an average of 500-600 cases annually, peaking in 2024.
