Ayurveda is known to help human beings overcome various kinds of ailments. The aim of Ayurveda is to prevent illness, heal the sick and preserve life.
‘Pinak’ an oral Ayurvedic Anti Venom tablet is replacing the traditional Anti Snake Venom (ASV) at various Primary Health Centres (PHC) in rural Maharashtra. According to this latest news report, A 40-year-old woman from rural Malharpeth in Satara, suffered the bite of an extremely venomous Krait while working in a farm. She was found unconscious and rushed to a medical care centre, but was given only 20 minutes to live by local medical experts. In a last ditch attempt to save her life, an oral ayurvedic tablet — ‘Pinak’ — was administered. Miraculously, the woman began responding within no time, and her life was saved.
This oral Ayurveda tablet has no side effects, it can be administered by anybody, like an Auxiliary Nurse Midwife (ANM) and also reduces the usage of and dependency on ASVs. ‘Pinak’ was co-invented by Dr. Geeta Pawar in 2005, and according to her, “It is a curative not only in cases of snakebite victims, but also works on scorpion and honeybee stings. Since it is purely herbal, there are no recorded adverse effects caused by this tablet”.
Severe shortage of Anti Snake Venom, high cost of the ASV’s and delays in reaching the hospital often leads to the death of the snake bite victim. All of these issues can be solved by making Pinak easily available, it costs around Rs. 400 which is relatively cheaper than an ASV which is around Rs. 4000 – Rs. 8000. State Health Director Dr Satish Pawar, is now focusing on making the life-saving tablet available in 1,900 PHCs across Maharashtra and other state PHC’s in a month or two.
