Anti snake venom serum not available in Islamabad hospitals

The snakebite patients have been facing problems in getting the country-specific anti-snake venom serum, the only treatment for snakebite, as the concerned govet authorities have failed to provide its sufficient quantity to the hospitals.

One such example is The Benazir Bhutto Hospital (BBH) has been that is purchasing the serum from the open market through local purchase because the National Institute of Health (NIH), Islamabad failed to provide it to the hospital , same is the case with Holy Family Hospital (HFH).On an average, the allied hospitals have been receiving 10 to 12 snakebite patients on daily basis.

One very unhappy incident happened two days back when a 25-year-old male victim of snakebite died at the BBH, who was given the ASV purchased from the open market. “The ASV purchased from the open market in his case might not be country-specific,” stated a senior faculty member of the Rawalpindi Medical College (RMC) on condition of anonymity.This is criminal negligence on the part of the govt authorities which must be noticed.