•Late Abuja-based singer, Ifunanya Nwangene
The Senate has called for urgent action to ensure public and private hospitals are stocked with life-saving antidotes, following a series of preventable deaths from snakebites, poisoning, and other medical emergencies.
Sponsored by Senator Adebule Idiat Oluranti (Lagos West), the motion highlights the tragic death of Miss Ifunanya Nwangene in Abuja, who reportedly succumbed to a snakebite due to the unavailability of anti-venom in nearby hospitals, reports The Guardian.
The lawmakers warn that such incidents expose critical gaps in emergency preparedness across Nigeria’s healthcare system.
The legislators noted that millions of Nigerians face similar risks every year, with snakebites, scorpion stings, drug overdoses, and venoms requiring immediate medical intervention, yet many hospitals either lack essential antidotes or maintain dangerously low stock, forcing victims to rush between facilities during the crucial “golden hour,” often with fatal consequences.
The Senate urged health regulators to make the stocking of essential antidotes a mandatory condition for hospital licensing and accreditation, while ensuring public hospitals receive sufficient supply through proper budgetary allocations.
The lawmakers also called for nationwide public awareness campaigns on the importance of prompt hospital care following poisoning or envenomation.
This comes as the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) assured Nigerians of the availability of anti-snake venom in all of its health facilities.
The Mandate Secretary, Health Services and Environment Secretariat (HSES), Dr Adedolapo Fasawe, who disclosed this in a statement, expressed the determination of the administration to ensure timely treatment for victims of snake bites and condoled with the Nwangene family over their daughter’s passing.
Fasswe described the incident as preventable and emphasised that snakebites remain a serious public health concern, particularly in farm settlements and areas near bushes.
She urged that all snakebites be treated as potentially venomous until assessed by a medical professional.
Equally, the Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria (ACPN) has called on the federal government to provide free anti-venom drugs and prioritise local manufacturing to end the 2,000 preventable deaths recorded yearly in the country.
It stressed the need for government investment of approximately $12 million to establish a local production plant, stating that Nigeria currently spends nearly $12 million yearly on imported vials, making local manufacturing a fiscally responsible solution.
National Chairman of ACPN, Ambrose Igwekammah Eze, who appealed in a statement following the tragic death of Abuja singer Ifunanya Nwangene, insisted that Nigeria must transition from a donor-dependent supply chain to a self-sufficient local production model to safeguard lives and meet the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) 2030 target of halving snakebite-related fatalities.
Eze urged the federal government to approve the full inclusion of antivenoms under the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) to subsidise the N40,000 average treatment cost, which remains prohibitive for the average rural Nigerian.
The ACPN chairman called for the declaration of snakebite envenoming as a National Health Priority and a Neglected Tropical Disease (NTD).
He warned that snakebite envenoming remains one of the most neglected public health emergencies in Nigeria, adding that while the country records over 20,000 cases yearly, approximately 1,700 Nigerians suffer permanent disabilities, including limb amputations, due to tissue necrosis and delayed access to care.
