Why India has so many snakebites
And what to do about it
FARAH KHATRI is lucky to be alive. The stars had to align for her to survive after being bitten by a saw-scaled viper while planting trees in north Mumbai. She was in a major city with many public hospitals. One of her companions had a car to drive her there immediately. Along the gridlocked route an ambulance from that very hospital appeared out of nowhere, allowing the car to follow in its slipstream. Her luck almost ran out because the hospital lacked a ventilator—crucial in snakebite treatment—but an ambulance driver raced to get her 24km to the nearest facility with both antivenom and ventilators. “I believe it’s a miracle,” says Ms Khatri.
Explore more
This article appeared in the Asia section of the print edition under the headline “Economy of scales”
From the June 21st 2025 edition
Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents
Explore the edition
How to ease pollution, gridlock and honking on India’s roads
The country’s elites won’t like it
Is Thailand heading for another coup?
The generals would be mad to try
Australia’s mushroom murderess is found guilty
The trial, with a plot stranger than detective fiction, has gripped the country
The Economist is hiring a Seoul-based researcher/reporter
We’re looking for a fluent speaker of Korean and English
Central Asia still has a complex relationship with Russia
But countries know their neighbour is a crucial partner
Welcome to North Korea’s Benidorm
The hermit kingdom’s new resort is for its own enjoyment, not foreigners’