Jane Salihu
The Senate has called on the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare to urgently address gaps in emergency healthcare delivery by ensuring the availability of safe, effective and affordable antivenoms in hospitals across Nigeria.
The resolution followed growing concern over the reported death of Miss Ifunanya Nwangene, who allegedly died after suffering a snakebite in Abuja, an incident lawmakers described as tragic and preventable.
During plenary on Tuesday, the upper chamber urged the Ministry of Health to work closely with the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) to guarantee the procurement, proper storage and nationwide distribution of antivenoms and other critical antidotes in both public and private hospitals.
The Senate’s intervention was prompted by a motion raised under Order 41 of the Senate Standing Rules by Senator Idiat Adebule of Lagos. The motion, titled “Urgent Need for the Federal and State Governments to Ensure Adequate Stocking, Availability and Access to Life-Saving Antidotes and Emergency Medicines in Public and Private Hospitals Across Nigeria,” highlighted systemic failures in emergency preparedness.
Senator Adebule noted that Nigeria continues to record increasing cases of medical emergencies such as snakebites, scorpion stings, poisoning and drug overdoses, all of which require immediate access to specific antidotes to prevent avoidable deaths and long-term complications.
She expressed deep concern over the death of Ifunanya describing it as a reflection of serious lapses in the availability of essential emergency medicines within the country’s healthcare system.
Citing the World Health Organisation (WHO), the lawmaker reminded the Senate that snakebite envenoming is classified as a neglected tropical disease, stressing that timely access to safe and effective antivenoms is critical, particularly in countries like Nigeria where snakebite incidents remain common.
According to her, many public and private hospitals across the country do not stock essential life-saving antidotes such as antivenoms and antitoxins, often resulting in dangerous treatment delays, unnecessary referrals and preventable loss of lives.
She lamented that victims are frequently forced to move between public and private hospitals in search of antidotes during the critical “golden hour,” significantly increasing mortality and morbidity rates, attributing the situation to the absence of mandatory antidote-stocking requirements, weak enforcement mechanisms and poor supply chain systems affecting both public and private health facilities.
Consequently, the Senate urged the Ministry of Health, through relevant agencies and regulatory bodies, to develop and enforce national guidelines prescribing minimum stock levels of essential antidotes and emergency medicines in designated hospitals nationwide.
Lawmakers also called on state governments, through their ministries of health and hospital management boards, to immediately audit public and private hospitals within their jurisdictions to assess compliance with approved antidote-stocking standards.
Contributing to the debate, Senator Sunday Karimi of Kogi West, described Ifunanya’s death as needless, stressing that medical facilities should be adequately equipped to handle emergencies.
“We are supposed to have antidotes. We must be proactive as a government. I don’t see why medical centres should not have antidotes,” he said.
Similarly, Senator Ekong Sampson of Akwa Ibom said the motion underscored the need for proactive healthcare policies rather than reactive responses to fatalities.
In his remarks, the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio who described Ifunanya as a promising Nigerian and that her death was a great loss to the nation and her family, thereafter called for a minute of silence in her honour.
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