Snake bites: Dora Akunyili’s anti-venom drug gathering dust at UNN, widower claims

A medical expert, Dr. Chike Akunyili, has accused the Federal Government of alleged lack of seriousness regarding the use of the results of medical research in the country.
Akunyili spoke exclusively with our correspondent against the backdrop of the recent death of about 300 Nigerians in about two states in the North due to snake bite.
The expert, who is the widower of the late former Director-General of the National Agency for Food, Drugs Administration and Control, Prof. Dora Akunyili, blamed the Federal Government for the rise in the number of deaths recorded from snake bite in recent times in some parts of the country.
He pointed out that if the Federal Government was keen on developing researches, the high incidence of snake bite being experienced in some parts of the country would have been averted.
Akunyili disclosed that his late wife, Dora, many years ago, developed an anti-venom, which had been abandoned on the shelf at the University of Nigeria Nsukka.
He said, “Dora, for her PhD, successfully extracted a potent anti-snake substance from a native plant called Scomanophytum Japonicum. I was with her in the bushes of Cross River State for weeks as the plant exists mainly in that state. The research was widely acclaimed and it earned her a place at the University of London as a Commonwealth Fellow.
“The extract tried at London was seen to be active against the venom from most dreaded snakes and even Cobras. These research findings are on the shelf, unused, at the University Of Nigeria, Nsukka. Now, we are talking of scarcity of snake venoms and antidotes. We are not serious in this our country.”
According to reports, incidence of snake bites usually rise during the harvest season. The 250 persons killed so far due to snake bites represent the number of confirmed deaths from three snake treatment centres – General Hospital, Kaltungo; Ali Mega Pharmacy, Gombe; and Comprehensive Medical Centre, Zamko, Plateau State. Several other victims are said to be in critical situation, with some of them left on bare floor at the treatment centres. According to doctors, they are helpless without the anti-venom.
The snake anti-venom drugs – Echitab Plus ICP polyvalent and Echitab G monovalent – were last supplied to the country in August, throwing the treatment centres into a crisis after the last vials were used up in the first week of October.
Echitab Plus ICP, produced at Instituto Clodomiro Picado, University of Costa Rica, treats bites from all venomous snakes in Nigeria, while Echitab G, produced by Micropharm Limited, United Kingdom, is solely for carpet viper bites.