Several Deadly Snakes Found Crawling Inside Mental Health Hospital

Some uninvited guests are creating havoc in a South African mental health hospital, causing panic and fear among the staff and patients.

In less than a month, three venomous snakes have been captured from the Kimberley Mental Health Hospital. In the latest encounter, a Cape cobra was rescued after it was found inside a printer.

Following Tuesday's snake sighting, the hospital workers told local website Independent Online that the situation has caused distress, especially among staff members and patients with snake phobia.

"We are in the season where the snakes come out of hibernation and we cannot prevent the situation of snakes being all over the place as the hospital is situated in the middle of nowhere. Patients and staff members are vulnerable when confronted by a snake as they are mostly left cold, become paralytic and get anxiety attacks," a staff member told the website.

Last month, a puff adder was found at the hospital gate and another venomous reptile was discovered in a patient's room.

The hospital workers also believe there are plenty of snakes in the parking lot. They fear the snakes will get into their cars and are also scared to enter the parking lot, especially at night.

"Even the security personnel are afraid of accompanying the staff around the facility because they do not know how to handle the different snakes. They are not allowed to kill them. We have the contact number of the snake catcher to call whenever we see a snake," the staff member told the outlet.

Hospital workers now want the security personnel to be provided with basic training on how to deal with snakes.

"They should not wait for a disaster to happen first - for a snake to bite a patient or a worker. Imagine if that Cape cobra had bitten the worker. The snake catcher told us that if bitten, the patient would not even have made it to hospital. That is how deadly some of the snakes are that we come across," another worker told the website.