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• Why anti-venom isn’t readily available in Nigerian hospitals
By Cosmas Omegoh
A medical expert, Dr Douglas Nkemdilim, has provided useful tips to help the citizens stay safe amid fear that snakes are on the rampage.
In a chat, Dr Nkemdilim, former Medical Director, Nnewi Anglican Diocesan Hospital, Nnewi, Anambra State, urged governments at all levels to prioritise procuring anti-venom and let the citizenry know where they can assess it.
Is it worrisome that singer, Ifunanya Nwagene, died of snake bite in 2026?
It is really worrisome.
But sometimes I don’t blame the financiers of the health system because in our own part of the country, we have just two snakes that are poisonous.
It is not every snake bite that is treated with anti-venom. Therefore, treatment is not readily available. Besides, it is expensive when compared to other drugs around.
In our area, only two snakes are poisonous: black cobra and the bua (ajoala) which resembles the python
Apart from those two, many other snakes are harmless. When they bite a victim, we treat it as wound and give tetanus oxide and anti-biotic – just like the injection given to prevent tetanus.
But against poisonous snakes, anti-venom is given. This is not readily available. So, it is usually overlooked by health professionals – probably because we don’t have many poisonous snakes within our area.
But up North, they have a greater number of snakes that are deadly.
When I was working in Sokoto, the state government usually stored ampules of the anti-venom in clinics because the snakes there are poisonous.
But here in the South, apart from the cobra and bua, all others are not really poisonous. And we don’t see them just like that too.
That is why I might not be quick to blame our health facilities for not having the anti-snake venom.
We kill the snakes we have here because they are snakes; some eat up our chicks and eggs.
If bitten what should everyone do?
Once bitten, rush the patient to the hospital. Apart from giving them other treatment, the anti-venom, which is the antidote to snake bite, must be administered immediately.
If a harmless snake was involved, tetanus oxide and antibiotics are given. It is treated as a wound.
Nevertheless, there is no room to take chances. Once one is not quickly attended to, the venom can be very lethal.
In the case of late Ifunanya, the snake that bit her was very deadly: a cobra, bua or another very dangerous specie.
Like I said, Abuja is a part of the North. And as you go up North, you will encounter more poisonous snakes.
What’s the safe window between when bitten and treatment?
The fatality is usually between six and 12 hours. Within this window, if the patient doesn’t get treatment, death might follow. If nothing happens during the period, the venom will overpower the patient’s system. That is why the earlier the patient is taken to the hospital, the better.
Sometimes people will tell you to tie a tourniquet around the injury area. It doesn’t help.
Once bitten and the victim is in pain, just give pain relief and proceed to the hospital. There, they will wash the site with normal saline – which is a salt solution.
Sadly, it is not every hospital that stores anti-venom. That is why it is good to have the names and contacts of hospitals that have it. So, when bitten, start making calls to find out where treatment can be obtained. The hospital that has it will ask the patient to come. This is necessary because if the patient is taken to Hospital A and it does have it, before getting to Hospital B, time will elapse.
How do we avoid snakes?
People should learn to clear their compounds. Most snakes like grassy spaces and dirty environments where rodents live. Rodents attract snakes.
So dispose of empty cans of beverages to avoid snakes hiding in them, especially in the villages.
People should stop chilling in the open at night by spreading mats outside during the hot weather, especially in the villages or even urban areas. That is very risky. Snakes can be closer than you ever imagined.
When people beautify their houses with carpet grasses, and flowers, that is also an invitation to snakes to shelter. If you are keeping that, attend to the spot weekly with snake repellants.
Identify holes around your compound and block them. They are potential shelters for snakes.
Do snakes live in septic tanks? If yes, what about heat?
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Snakes survive in septic tanks. Their skin is unlike humans’. Besides, there are holes in the septic tanks away from the faeces. Snakes enter those holes looking for rodents.
What’s the efficacy of local remedies?
Local remedies against snake bites don’t work. People in the village survive with such local remedies because the snakes that bite them are not the poisonous ones.
If a snake is not poisonous, its bite won’t kill. What happens to the victim is like an ordinary injury.
In the villages, they will tell you the devastating effects of the bua bite among farmers. First, they will move the victim to the house. Before they contemplate the next move, the victim is dead. That happens most during the dry season.
Are snakes seasonally dangerous?
Most snakes enjoy cool environments. Once the weather is hot, they seek shelter in very cool spots. That is why some of them enjoy hibernating in holes, in septic holes where the heat from the faeces does not affect them.
Are snakes more active at or day?
Snakes are active anytime of the day. The only difference is that at night time, they are not easily visible. They might be a foot away from you, yet you will not see them. They come out in the afternoon too. They run away from noise and humans to avoid being killed and prefer to roam and feed at night when rats too are active.
However, whether they bite in the day or at night, the concentration of the poison in them is the same.
What do we keep at home as first aid?
One needs to keep analgesics and give it just to minimise the pains and calm down the victim.
A motorbike or a car needs to be available for quick transport to the hospital. So, don’t maintain an empty tank.
Snake bite is an emergency. So we must treat it like the way we treat a pregnant woman in labour.
What about avoiding walking?
Yes, the venom causes paralysis to the muscles. As the venom circulates, it deals with the muscles. The victim becomes weaker and weaker by the minute. So, if the victims treks for 200m, they will likely collapse. Once the venom gets to the blood vessel, it starts circulating around. And once it gets to the muscles, the victim might not be able to carry on.
That is why the death rate from snake bite is most likely more in the villages than in urban communities.
In the villages, before the patient gets to the hospital, that might take up to two hours or even more.
As for the poisonous snakes, the death rate is 70-100 per cent. Everything depends on how soon the patient gets the anti-venom. Where the venom is not available, it is 100 per cent fatal.
Is it true anti-venom must be refrigerated?
Exactly! They must be stored under the cold chain. That is why it is not easily available.
How many pharmacy outlets run their refrigerators for 24 hours? How many government hospitals have the facilities to keep the vaccine?
Now, if the vaccines are not refrigerated, they are as good as useless. Mind you, the vaccines are in liquid form; they are not in powder.
What should govts now do to save lives?
It is hard to store the vaccine in hospitals because its durability is low. Some of them even expire within 90 days, some in six months.
One thing about snake bite is that when it happens, the people first rush the victim to the chemist store, then to the nearby maternity. Their next move might depend on the health worker they meet and their knowledge of the risk involved. Some will keep the patient there and start treatment: give drip, this and that, thus allowing the venom the window to circulate.
That is why awareness must be there: that once it is established that someone has been bitten by a snake, the patient is rushed to the hospital that has the anti-venom.
So, what the government should start doing now is to begin to announce hospitals where the anti-venom is available so that the people will know. It should be part of the enlightenment programme since the vaccine is not likely going to be in all hospitals. So, wherever it is available, the people should be told.
How nature limits bua specie numbers
Nature has this way of limiting the bua numbers. The bua produces once in a life time. It doesn’t lay eggs. It carries its offspring in its system. When they are matured to venture out, they simply rupture their mother’s system, burst it open and emerge. That leaves their mother dead.
Then once they are out, there is this bird called obu, which perceives the scent of their presence 20kms off. The bird will simply swoop on them and devour them one by one. When it is done, it flies off to invite its kind to come to the feast. And by time they are done, out of over 100 of the bua kids, only a handful might survive to adulthood.
Naturally, snakes come out at night. They don’t bite people for the sake of doing so, but by self defence, especially the cobra even when the victim doesn’t really mean to attack it.
