Professor Saad Ahmed, the Chief Medical Director of Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Jabi, Abuja, where late musician Ifunanya Nwangene died from snakebite has rationalised the inability of the hospital to save Nwangene’s life.
The singer died on January 31 at FMC after a cobra bit her at her Abuja residence with report rife that alleged unavailability of anti-venom sealed her fate.
In an interview with newsmen FMC CMD said contrary to report the hospital had anti-venom which it administered to her.
According to Ahmed, the time it took to bring the 26-year-old to the hospital after the snakebite was responsible for her death.
“First, I want to extend my condolences to the family and friends of the deceased. However, this was a case of a cobra bite.
“The cobra is one of the most poisonous snakes we know, and time is of the essence from the moment a person is bitten to when medical care is accessed.
“She presented to our hospital more than two hours after she was bitten by the cobra. By that time, she had already begun to manifest systemic envenomation. Contrary to reports on social media, we did have anti-snake venom.
“Two doses were promptly administered. The first dose was given through infusion, and afterwards, a second dose was administered.
“So, she received two doses of anti-snake venom. However, the venom had already gone systemic, and as we all know, the cobra is highly poisonous.
“If she had presented much earlier, probably within 10 to 15 minutes, that is usually when anti-venoms are most effective. Unfortunately, she arrived more than two hours after the deadly incident,” the CMD explained.
