Raffy Tulfo wants antivenom supply in PH rural areas

Senator Raffy Tulfo on Monday lamented the lack of supply of cobra antivenom in rural areas, noting that only the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) produces and distributes the antidote for snakebites in the Philippines.

In a privilege speech, Tulfo narrated that he was informed during his recent visit to Isabela of an incident wherein a farmer was bitten by a Philippine Cobra and died because there was no antivenom available in the hospital where the patient was rushed.

The lawmaker also mentioned an incident in Catarman, Northern Samar where a one-year-old child died because of the same reason.

Similar incidents in Toledo City, Cebu and Ifugao were brought to his attention.

Citing the statement of a coordinator of the national immunization program of the Department of Health, Tulfo highlighted that the Purified Cobra Antivenom (PCAV) can only be acquired from the RITM in Muntinlupa City.

He pointed out that snakebite victims from the provinces had to go to Metro Manila just to get the antidote for it.

"This is a public health concern that we must address.  It is very elitist that this matter is not given importance just because, we, in the metropolitan do not feel the burden of snakebites.  Pero ito po ay dama sa mga rural areas-- sa mga magsasaka, sa mga nakatira malapit sa mga sapa at ilog, at sa mga nakatira malapit sa gubat at masusukal na lugar," Tulfo said.

"RITM is the one that supplies the antivenom, it depends on the hospital if they will purchase it. If they purchase and there’s no snakebite incident, then it is a loss for the hospital... That is why we have to know the demand for antivenom so that we can maximize the limited supply of antivenom in our country," he added.

The senator stressed that this is an urgent matter as a study by the National Center for Bio-technology Information on the Health and Economic Impact of Snakebites in ASEAN countries published in 2022 showed that there are about 13,377 snakebite victims per year in the Philippines, with 550 resulting in death, while others are amputated.

But Tulfo questioned its accuracy given that this was conducted by a foreign organization and that there is no study or survey on the matter from the side of the government health agencies.

Further, the lawmaker lamented that there were individuals who were charged with criminal cases for killing cobras even though they were just protecting themselves.

"If we ensure that there are anti-venom supplies in crucial regions of the Philippines, and there are trained personnel in the health centers that could diagnose the snakebite victim and administer the anti-venom, then there would be no need to kill these threatened cobra species.  We cannot punish our people for defending themselves when we do not even give them protection," Tulfo said.

He noted that as early as 2012, the late former Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago had filed a resolution asking the Senate to conduct an inquiry into the reported need to create an antivenom bank in all regional hospitals in the Philippines.

Thirteen years later, however, Tulfo said "we still turn a blind- ye to this reality."

"Given that our country is mostly composed of agricultural and rural areas, it is a must that crucial regional hospitals be required to carry antidotes to various venomous animals found in the Philippines, most especially to cobra venom.  Let us prioritize the funding of research to perform a comprehensive data collection on health and economic burden of snakebites so that we could develop strategies to address the problem," Tulfo said.

After Tulfo's privilege speech, Senate Minority Leader Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III manifested the inclusion of other similar incidents, such as jellyfish stings and dog bites, in the discussion on the matter.

The privilege speech was referred to the Senate committee on health and demography. —LDF, GMA Integrated News