- Doctors say Nigerian hospitals ran out of
anti-venom drug since around October and
patients need them seriously
- The hospitals visited say an average of 6
people die daily from snakebites
- Experts say snake attacks in the harvest
season is not unusual but there were anti-
venom vaccines for treatments in the past
- Doctors say they have to watch helplessly
as patients die slowly
- The medical experts say the situation is
much worse than the deadly Ebola, HIV/
AIDS and Monkeypox and must not be
allowed to continue
Two hundred and fifty victims of snake
bite have died in the last three weeks in
Plateau and Gombe states, following an
acute scarcity of snake anti-venom drug
in the country.
The figure represents the number of
confirmed deaths from three snake
treatment centres – General Hospital,
Kaltungo, Ali Mega Pharm*cy, Gombe
and Comprehensive Medical Centre,
Zamko, Plateau State.
A correspondent of the News Agency of
Nigeria (NAN), who visited the three
medical outfits, met other victims in
critical situations, with some of them
left on bare floors as the doctors said
they were helpless without the anti-
venom.
NAN reports that the snake anti-venom
drug – Echitab Plus ICP polyvalent and
Echitab G monovalent – had not been
supplied to the country since August,
throwing the treatment centres into
crisis after the last vials were used up in
the first week of October.
READ ALSO: Boko Haram leader Shekau
named among most powerful Muslims
in the world
Echitab Plus ICP, produced at Instituto
Clodomiro Picado, University of Costa
Rica, treats bites from all venomous
snakes in Nigeria, while Echitab G,
produced by Micropharm Ltd, United
Kingdom, is solely for carpet viper bites.
Medics, who spoke with NAN at the
three treatment centres, said that the
cases of snake bites were usually very
common during the harvest season.
“ We receive an average of 50 victims
every day. Some arrive here in very
critical conditions and we just have to
watch them die because we are helpless,”
Abubakar Abdullahi Aliyu, Managing
Director, Aliyu Mega Pharm*cy, told
NAN in Gombe.
He said that more than 70 victims had
died in the last three weeks following
the lack of anti-venom to treat them,
adding that some came from Adamawa,
Taraba, Bauchi, Borno and Plateau
states.
“An average of six deaths are recorded
daily. If you go to the snake treatment
centre at the Kaltungo General Hospital,
you will pity the victims; the lucky ones
among them get supportive treatment,
while many are left to fate since the drug
are not available.
“Between August and October, we
received 750 victims. We were given 700
vials of the anti-venom on August 31,
but we exhausted them before October.
Many people are just dying. It is a major
crisis ,” he stated.
Aliyu said that the only available drug –
Indian anti-venom – was not as
effective in the treatment of the bites
from carpet vipers, the commonest
poisonous snakes in the country.
“We have tried the Indian anti-venom,
but it does not elicit much response.
Sometimes, we give six vials and more to
a patient, but the effect will be minimal.
If we had Echitab drug, one dose is
enough to cure a patient,” he said.
The pharmacist urged the Federal
Government to promptly step in to
assist Echitab Study Group, the outfit
coordinating the supply and
distribution of the Echitab drug, so as to
make them available.
The Snake Treatment Centre at the
Kaltungo General Hospital, Gombe State,
equally presented a sorry sight with
helpless patients gasping for breath
while the medics watched helplessly.
Dr. Abubakar Ballah, the Snakebite
Treatment Officer, told NAN that the
situation was “sad and scary”.
PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app
for Android and read best news on
Nigeria’s #1 news app
“We have a serious crisis here. In the
last one week, 139 patients were
admitted with 77 absconding when we
appeared helpless, owing to the non-
availability of the anti-snake venom
drug.
“Some were unconscious when they were
brought here. Sometimes, it is corpses
that are brought to us.
“In the last few days, we have recorded
21 deaths. The figure is more because
many of those that absconded were in
bad shape; many others did not even
bother to come here because of the fore-
knowledge of lack of anti-venom in the
centre.
“The last drug was used on October 13.
We try to give vitamin K to the victims to
enhance blood clotting in the absence of
anti-venom because bites from the viper
snakes cause bleeding which is difficult
to control without anti-venom.
“It is a critical period, but we are
helpless. This is why we call on the
government to work with the Echitab
Study Group to provide a lasting solution
to this menace.
“Already, some criminals are faking the
drug and selling it at N43,000 per vial,
contrary to the original anti-snake
venom sold by the Echitab Study Group
at the cost of between N13,500 to
N30,000.
“What we must avoid is a situation
where desperate people produce fake
drug. We must work toward an effective
handling and supply of the drug to
guarantee quality and ensure that only
genuine drug are supplied to the
treatment centres.’ ’
He urged government to treat the issue
as a national emergency.
He said: "The need for the snake anti-
venom should be seen as a security issue
with its necessity equated with having an
army, customs service, police force and
other security agencies.
“ The government should work with the
Echitab Study Group to have a reliable
supply channel; government should
subsidise the cost to avoid a major crisis
like the one in our hands now, because
we find it difficult and embarrassing to
explain the situation to our patients .”
NAN found an equally bad situation at
the Comprehensive Medical Centre,
Zamko, with Dr. Titus Dajel, the Medical
Superintendent, stating that more than
200 patients were admitted in October
alone.
“ There are many victims, but we cannot
help because there is no anti-snake
venom available now. We have had more
than 200 cases in the last one month,
with many of them losing their live s.’’
He equally explained that the centre had
tried the Indian anti-venom on patients
but did not get the desired results
because the specifications are different.
“ The most effective drug is the Echitab
anti-venom which is produced using the
venom of snakes from Nigeria,’’ he said.
Dajel regretted that traditional healers
had taken advantage of the situation to
extort monies from victims after
promising to heal them.
“ What the herbalists are doing is trial
and error. Most victims bleed in the
brain because the venom is vicious;
traditional healers cannot tackle that
because they concentrate on healing the
wound,” he explained.
Dajel urged the Federal Government to
treat snake bite as a national
emergency and take urgent steps to
make the anti-snake venom available.
“Continuous importation of the anti-
venom is dangerous, especially in view of
the rising cost of the dollar. We must
look into the possibility of domesticating
the production of the drug to avoid
constant crisis ,” he said.
He explained that the cases of snake
bites had become more common in the
area because of the ongoing harvest by
farmers.
“ It is the peak period of snake bites;
farmers go to the bush to harvest crops
and get attacked by snakes who are out
of their holes because of the hot
temperature.
“Some snakes go under heaps of rice
gathered together preparatory for
thrashing, in search of shelter from the
scorching sun. Such snakes pounce on
farmers when they open the heaps to
start thrashing.
“Some snakes also move in groups in
search of rats at yam farms where they
clash with farmers harvesting the
produce,” he said.
Dajel said that the centre had advised
farmers to wear protective items like
boots and gloves, and urged government
agencies charged with public
enlightenment to educate farmers on
ways to protect themselves against
snake attacks.
Mr Tim Golu, member of the House of
Representatives representing Pankshin/
Kanam/Kanke in Plateau, who also
decried the non-availability of the
snake anti-venom, said that the
situation had been “catastrophic’’ to his
constituents.
“We have lost so many people in the past
few weeks. As we speak, we have several
cases in my own village in Kanke. The
comprehensive health centre in Zamko is
usually their only hope, but there are no
drug there. It is a huge disaster.
“The shortage of the drug has led to a
sharp rise in the prices of other options.
It has also led to the production of fake
and adulterated vaccines, which have
caused deaths and deformities, ’’ he said.
He appealed to the federal, states and
local governments to intervene by
committing funds for the purchase of
the anti-venom, and regretted the
colossal damage in the past few weeks.
Golu said that he had initiated a bill for
the establishment of a National Centre
for Research and Production of Snake
Vaccines which would soon go through
public hearing.
Reacting to the non-availability of the
snake anti-venom drug, Dr. Nandul
Durfa, Managing Director, Echitab
Study Group, Representative of the two
companies that produce the anti-snake-
venom drug in Nigeria, blamed the
situation on the “late placement of
order for its production”.
“It is very sad that there is a sudden
shortage that culminated in many
deaths. The drought is due to technical
hitches in the production chain which is
being looked into, to prevent a
recurrence.
“We have adopted measures to ensure
continuous supply of the product and
want to ensure that only quality anti-
venom drug are brought to the country.
We want to guarantee continued supply
so as to avoid the supply of fake anti-
venom drug from multiple supply
channels.’’
He said that the federal and state
governments, religious bodies, NGOs and
individuals had often procured the anti-
venom for free distribution to victims
and were eagerly waiting for supply “in
view of the deadly consequences of the
shortage.”
According to him, the Echitab Study
Group used to distribute the drug free to
patients at the treatment centres,
particularly at periods when
government stopped financing the
supply.
“On few occasions, however, we were
forced to charge a little token to cover
the cost of transporting the drug to the
direct users, ’’ he said.
Durfa confirmed that the Echitab Study
Group was already working with the
Ministry of Health to explore areas of
collaboration toward manufacturing the
drug locally, via a Public-Private-
Partnership (PPP) arrangement.
He declared that snake bite was a
menace that must be taken seriously
because it was “ worse than Ebola,
Monkey Pox and even HIV/AIDS”.
“It affects rural dwellers who are major
contributors to our GDP through
farming, cattle rearing and mining. This
is why we believe that even the Ministry
of Agriculture and Rural Development
should take interest in the management
of snake bites.,” he said.
Recall that NAIJ.com had reported the
very sad story of a final year student of
Umaru Musa Yar’adua University,
Kastina state named Zainab Umar who
died from a snakebite.
NAIJ.com gathered that late Zainab was
on her way to the hostel from the school
library when she was bitten by a snake
on a Friday night and died shortly after.
One of her friends Ahmed Suleiman
Abdulrafi’u shared the sad news on
Facebook.
"We need a mass burial for our
leaders!" man harshly criticizes the
Nigerian government - NAIJ.com TV
No comments:
Post a Comment