‘Second birth’: Vava Suresh recovers from cobra bite, leaves hospital

Suresh thanked minister V N Vasavan for the timely intervention to rush him to the Government Medical College Hospital in Kottayam after he was bitten by the cobra on January 31. The minister was present to see off Suresh from the hospital on Monday.

The 47-year-old said that though he had been bitten by snakes 16 times, never before had it become this critical for him, and thanked the doctors for the treatment he received at the medical college hospital. Suresh said his return was the result of the excellent coordination of the various departments of the hospital as well as the prayers of the people.

Earlier, the medical team said that Suresh’s body had been completely cleared of the toxin. More than 50 bottles of antivenom, twice the normal, were required to bring Suresh back to life, said sources. He was on ventilator support till February 3.

The medical board at the hospital discharged Suresh after he regained full health and recovered from a fever. The wound on his right leg from the snakebite is yet to completely heal, but Suresh can walk and eat without assistance and suffers only from minor aches now, officials told the media.

Often criticised for his seemingly unsafe snake-rescue practices, Suresh said that he would try to be more careful in his future missions but alleged that there was a campaign against him from some corners.

Suresh was bitten while trying to put a captured cobra into a gunny sack at Kurichy in Kottayam. He was first admitted to a private hospital in Kottayam before being shifted to the medical college.