ABUJA: The Senate has urged the Federal Government to compel all public and private hospitals across the country to maintain adequate stocks of snake anti-venoms and other essential antidotes, following the death of Abuja-based singer Ifeanyi Nwangene, popularly known as Nanyah, from a snake bite.
The upper chamber, on Tuesday, called on the Federal Ministry of Health to immediately develop and enforce national guidelines prescribing minimum stock levels of snake anti-venoms, emergency medicines and critical antidotes in designated hospitals nationwide.
Lawmakers further directed health regulatory authorities to deny registration or licensing to private hospitals that lack these life-saving antidotes, while stressing the need for adequate budgetary provision to ensure their availability in public health facilities.
The resolutions followed a motion by Senator Idiat Oluranti Adebule (APC, Lagos West), who highlighted what she described as the urgent need for federal and state governments to guarantee access to emergency antidotes, given the rising cases of snake bites, scorpion stings, poisoning and drug overdoses across the country.
Senators noted that Nwangene’s death exposed serious gaps in emergency preparedness, adding that the tragedy was avoidable with timely access to anti-venom.
The Senate also urged the Ministry of Health, in collaboration with the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), to ensure proper procurement, quality control, storage and nationwide distribution of safe, effective and affordable anti-venoms, with priority for high-risk regions.
State governments were asked to conduct immediate audits of public and private hospitals to ensure compliance with antidote-stocking and emergency preparedness standards.
The Senate observed a minute of silence in honour of Nwangene, who died at the age of 26.
