From Joseph Uchenna, in Makurdi
Not fewer than 12 Internally Displaced Persons in Agagbe camps, Gwer West Local Government Area of Benue State have reportedly suffered snake bites between January and August.
An IDP Terna Ibaah who spoke to our correspondent on Sunday from one of the camps in Agagbe, said that the latest victim was a 14 year old Chagu Terhemen who was bitten by snake last Friday without medical treatment.
Ibaah said “Snake has bitten Master Chagu Terhemen, 14, who was displaced from his village Tse Abian in Sengev Council Ward of Gwer West LGA.
“Chagu was going to the farm with his father Tse Kyomke Mbapupuu in Gaambe Ushin Council Ward when he was bitten by a snake.”
He said that they had applied traditional treatment on the victim but it did not work as of Sunday afternoon. The teenager started convulsing, he said.
Ibaah said that the fear of losing the young man necessitated the alarm being raised, saying that the medical personnel only do visit the camps on Mondays and Thursdays.
When asked if there had been frequent snake bites of IDPs in Agagbe community, Ibaah said, “From January this year till now, we have recorded 12 victims of snake bite in Agagbe among the IDPs, fortunately, no life has been lost.”
Ibaah accused the representative of the State Emergency Management Agency, SEMA assigned to the camp of neglecting the victim of the snake bite.
According g to him, “the camp manager said that they can not treat him because he is not staying in the camp, but he knows that due to congestion in the camps, some of the registered displaced persons prefer to stay with the host community. The victim’s registration number is 81XO1649”.
Ibaah said that there are five places where IDPs are camped in Agabe namely, RCM Primary School, Sisters Convent, Saint Francis Secondary School, Old police station and Adzequa Store all in Agagbe, maintaining that the camps were are all congested.
When contacted, the Information Officer of SEMA, Tema Ager said that the agency had entered a Memorandum of Understanding with the State University Teaching Hospital, Makurdi where they could rush patients bitten by snake for treatment.
Ager said, “But SEMA has an MOU with the State University Teaching Hospital where they can rush the patient to for treatment.”
The SEMA spokesman however, said that as long as the victim is a registered displaced persons, he should be allowed to be taken for treatment at the Teaching Hospital.
