By Emmanuella Oghenetega
Following the statement by the Federal medical center Abuja, refuting claims that non-availability of anti-snake venom and inadequate response led to the tragic death of fast-rising Nigerian singer Ifunanya Nwangene, popularly known as Nanyah, many Nigerians have reacted both on and offline.
The statement, signed by Dr. Bioku Muftau, Head of Clinical Services, read in parts, “Our medical staff provided immediate and appropriate treatment, including resuscitation efforts, intravenous fluids, intranasal oxygen, and the administration of polyvalent snake antivenom.
“After a thorough but quick evaluation, it was clear that Ms. Nwagene suffered severe neurotoxic complications from the snake bite. Despite all efforts to stabilize her condition and transfer her to the Intensive Care Unit for further treatment, she experienced a sudden deterioration just before the transfer.
“Our team of professionals worked diligently to provide CPR and other life-saving measures; however, despite these efforts, we were unable to revive her.”
Getting the reactions of Nigerians to the unfortunate incident, the Pointernewspaper, speaking with a man who chose to remain anonymous, disclosed that last year on the 1st of April, a snake had bitten him on his leg while heading home.
“Thankfully, the man driving the car i was trying to give way for, came down from his vehicle, gave me bitter kola and tied the leg to prevent it from spreading.
“That night i went to Custom hospital, karu and the Nyanya general hospital and about 3 pharmacies in my estate, none of them had anti-venom. Then we had to go to H-Medix in Asokoro and that’s where we got it. We took it back to iyanyan for them to administer it. And this all happened between 10pm-12:30am the next morning.
“What if I wasn’t so lucky, our hospitals need to do better. How can a whole hospital not have anti-venom.”
In a post by the brother of the late singer, Emy Kaybaba, he wrote that he was on the phone with the deceased and she told him the hospital staff had untied the tourniquet and was giving her drip.
“When she complained about the removal of the torniquet, they asked her to calm down.
Kaybaba accused the hospital of negligence as he mourned his sister. He stated that the hospital is now claiming his sister was not speaking well when she came in. He slammed that as a lie and stated that she came into the hospital by herself and was speaking clearly to him on the phone.
He said she even did a video showing the hospital administering drip and sent to him, which he shared as he continued to slam the hospital.
