Roughly a week after the death of Nanyah Nwangene, an Abuja-based popular singer bitten by cobra in her home six days ago, Professor Saad Ahmed, the Chief Medical Director (CMD) of Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Jabi, Abuja where she died, said the hospital couldn’t save the singer due to her late arrival for urgent medication.
Professor Ahmed who explained this to journalists on Saturday at the sideline of 2026 budget defence session, by the Senate Committee on Health, had with various government owned tertiary health Institutions, threw his weight behind the need for inclusion of state and private hospitals in the centralised housemanship system for fresh medical doctors.
He debunked social media report that anti-venom doses were not administered to Nwangene on arrival for urgent medication after Snake bite, saying they were promptly administered but couldn’t save her because of systemic damage the venom had already inflicted on her.
His words: “First, I want to extend my condolences to the family and friends of the deceased. But I would say this is a case of a cobra.
“Cobra is the most poisonous snake that we know. And time is of essence. From when one gets bitten and then to access that care.
“She was presented to our hospital over two hours after she was bitten by that cobra. And by that time, she had already started manifesting with some systemic envenomation. And contrary to what we see in social media, that we didn’t have a snake venom.
“Two doses were promptly given. First dose was given. After that one, another dose was given.
“So she had two doses of snake venom. But of course, the venom had already gone systemic. And we all know the cobra being highly poisonous.
“If she had presented probably much earlier, within 10 to 15 minutes. Usually that’s when anti-venoms become most effective. But she came over two hours after the deadly incident.”
He however, described Nwangene’s case as a wake up call for all , particularly other hospitals that may not be prepared for such kind of things, saying, “but for FMC Abuja, we had anti-snake venom, all stock. And our emergency services are top-notch. And our staff were fully on ground”.
On call for inclusion of state and private hospitals in the centralised housemanship system for fresh medical doctors in Nigeria, the FMC, Chief Medical Director, said the idea would help to solve problem of inadequate spaces for fresh doctors.
“Housemanship is a period where young graduates in medicine going to go and learn hands-on before they can now go for their NYC. So the federal hospitals, yes, almost all the federal tertiary hospitals are actually doing housemanship. But then the quota allocated is not enough.
“It’s not like classroom that you come to me and say, okay, I’m giving you 200, I’m giving you this. It has to be based on the number of beds that you have, the number of specialists that you have, and all the other facilities put together. So I think if the state government can key into this centralised system, it’s going to help a great deal.
“So I think when we have all this centralised is going to help. What the Registrar of Medical and Dental Council presented yesterday (Thursday), will just be history,” he said.
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