Kottayam: Renowned snake-handler Vava Suresh is well on the path to recovery, five days after plunging into a life-threatening state after a Cobra bite.
He was shifted out of the ICU and moved to a room here at the Kottayam Medical College Hospital on Friday.
With the snake venom now out of his system, the administration of anti-venom has also been stopped.
"Suresh has regained full consciousness and is able to converse properly now. He is recovering well," the hospital authorities said.
However, the 48-year-old will be in observation at the hospital for two more days.
Vava Suresh was bitten by the Cobra on Monday evening as he was trying to place it in a sack after getting hold of it from under rubble lying on the premises of a house at Kurichy, a few kilometres south of Kottayam town.
He was on ventilator support til Thursday.
Not the first time
This is not the first time Suresh was bitten by a snake.
During his long career of conservation activities, he has encountered numerous accidents.
He has been on ventilator twice and in ICU four times.
In all, he has survived more than 300 venomous snake bites.
The previous incident was on 13 February 2020.
State offers all assistance
Suresh's efforts to capture venomous snakes and to educate the people about snakes and their behaviour is widely acknowledged.
He earned the moniker 'The Snake-man of Kerala' for risking his own life to catch snakes straying into human-inhabited areas and releasing them into the wild.
When news broke about the latest incident, Health Minister Veena George had said that the State will bear the expenses of Suresh's treatment.
