Photos: Chinese mother slashes son's wrist with a meat cleaver to treat snake bite

A mother in China decided to cut her son's wrist using a meat cleaver after he was bitten by a snake last week. 

The woman said she was hoping to drain the bad blood from her son's body in order to treat the snake bite, reports the People's Daily Online. 

According to doctors, the nine-year-old child almost lost his right arm as the knife was just three millimetres from the child's tendon.

According to the report, the child was playing outside of the family's home with a chicken at around 1pm on July 7th.

His mother, named Ms Yang, says she became worried that the boy might lose the animal so came out to warn him. 

She says she realised that her son was playing near weeds and the ground was wet which meant that there could be snakes.  

Ms Yang shouted at him quickly to hurry back into the house however the boy did not hear. At that moment, he was bitten by a snake. 

She saw a hole in the right hand side of his wrist and asked her son to describe the animal. 

Yang then realised that her son had been bitten by a serpent. She started trying to directly suck out the venom from the wound. 

When she had finished sucking out the venom, Yang rubbed in some wine to try and sterilize the wrist. She also beat at it to try and ensure the venom was gone. 

In desperation, she picked up a clever from the kitchen and cut at the boy's arm creating a large wound. The blood would not stop. 

The mother carried her son to the nearest hospital however because of his condition, the local hospital would not take the boy. 

It was suggested that she took him to a major hospital in Yongchuan.

Ms Yang said: 'I had no money and had to find a neighbour to borrow 2,000 yuan.' 

He was rushed in and given anti-infection drugs before undergoing surgery. 

According to hospital staff, Ms Yang was repeatedly sobbing blaming herself for the incident.

The family do not have very much cash and are financially stretched. With follow up treatments, they are concerned that they are not able to afford the cost of his treatment. 

Doctor Li Guangliang told reporters that from initial inspection, the toxicity of the snake wasn't large. 

However it is Yang's actions that had the worst effect causing secondary damage. 

The child is out of danger but remains in hospital for observation. His hand function will be affected by the incident.