07/02/2026
ANTI-VENOM: A STORY THAT STILL HAUNTS ME
During my NYSC, about 10 years ago, a woman walked into our hospital with her legs tightly tied from the knee downward. She had been bitten by a snake while working on her farm.
She came straight to the reception, and luckily I was there as the pharmacist on duty. The first question she asked me was simple but heavy:
“Do you have anti-venom?”
She showed me her big toe—the fang marks were still there. She told me she had already gone to four hospitals. Ours was her last hope.
Unfortunately, we did not have anti-venom.
I immediately advised her to rush to ABU Teaching Hospital, several kilometres away from the state capital. Till today, I still wonder—did she make it? Did she survive?
Recently, I heard about another woman who died from a snake bite, and that memory came flooding back. It’s painful that 10 years later, we are still telling the same stories.
Yes, anti-venom is expensive.
But government hospitals—especially those serving rural and farming communities—must stock it. Snake bites are not rare. They are predictable. And they are preventable causes of death when treatment is available.
How many more lives must we lose before this changes?
Pharmacist Saida Mansur Pharmacist
