Twenty-year-old Rida Fatima died on Friday more than 72 hours after a snake bit her in her room. Fatima was not administered anti-venom immediately upon being taken to hospitals, health professionals said.
Fatima was a student at Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences (LUMHS) in Jamshoro. She was sleeping in her dorm room when a snake bit her on Monday night. She was initially taken to Jamshoro hospital, located on the premises of the university, from where she was shifted to Isra University Hospital in Hyderabad, which is right next to Jamshoro. From here she was referred to Civil Hospital Hyderabad where she received her first dose of anti-venom.
According to a family member, Fatima spent two hours in Jamshoro hospital where the doctors could not establish whether it was a case of snake bite or not, and did not give her the ASV vaccine – the anti-venom. “Even the seven-factor vaccine (given to stop bleeding), which costs around Rs200,000, was not given in time.” he said. “The doctors prescribed it late and it had to be bought from Karachi.”
Fatima’s father, Haji Shamsuddin Memon, said that she was given the anti-venom around 8 pm while she was bitten around 5:30 am.
After 12 hours at Civil hospital, Fatima’s white blood cells began to break down rapidly. She began to bleed whenever she was injected with the venom antidote every two hours. Fatima’s family said that she was given 12 doses of anti-venom while Dr Bikha Ram, the incharge of medical unit four at Civil hospital, said that 10 doses were given.
On Thursday Fatima was brought to National Institute of Blood Diseases Karachi, where she remained till she died on Friday. She was buried in her hometown in Tando Muhammad Khan district. According to haematologist Tahir Shamsie, who treated Fatima in Karachi, the venom destroyed her anti-coagulation system, causing her to bleed profusely. “Her haemoglobin had plunged to 6 g/dl by the time she was in Karachi,” he said. “Her organs were bleeding one after the other uncontrollably.”
Dr Shamsie said that Fatima’s symptoms suggested that a viper snake bit her. “She would have survived if the anti-venom was given to her within two hours after she was bitten.” She was not even given the seven-factor vaccine to stop bleeding.
University’s reaction
However, the spokesman of LUMHS, Dr Saroop Bhatia, said that Fatima was given the first dose of venom antidote as soon as she was admitted in the Civil Hospital at around 9 am. Nevertheless, he confirmed that she was not given the seven-factor vaccine at Jamshoro Hospital. But Bhatia did not confirm whether the hospital stocked up on the vaccine or not.
Meanwhile, the university officials were surprised at the presence of a snake in the room. They searched the hostel premises after the incident but did not find the reptile.
The hostel provost, Dr Adeela, said that the rooms do not have enough space to allow a snake to enter. “This is the first time in my 11-year service at the hostel that I have heard of such an incident,” she said. “The rooms are sealed completely. They don’t even have an attached washroom.”
Dr Adeela said that Fatima’s room was on the ground floor and she was sleeping with two other girls. Ironically, her sister, Dr Nehal Memon, was sleeping on the floor but the snake did not bite her.
The university has initiated an inquiry into how a snake ventured into the hospital premises and whether there was a lapse in treatment by the Jamshoro hospital. Fatima’s family claim that the university administration has told them that they will cut off all the trees around the hostel and will secure the boundaries with iron grills and barbed wires.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 30th, 2012.
COMMENTS (26)
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Really tragic. may her soul rest in peace and may God give her family strength to bear this unbearable loss. :(. and really a poor part from our medical authorities. Really poor!
Snakes are not the problem. In fact they're an important part of the Indian sub-continents ecosystem.
The issue is the outdated and in honesty, the backward treatment of snakebites in Pakistan.It is still standard practice, especially in rural areas, for people and doctors to rely on witch doctors and holymen. Furthermore, on the occasion that professional aid is sought, snakebites are notoriously ill-managed.
Following symptoms of envenomation (regardless of haemotoxic or neurotxic or both), the standard treatment is the use of blood products which is totally incorrect. Someone commented above - presumably a doctor, that aspirin should have been administered in this case. Madness! Aspirin has anticoagulant effects and you're suggesting it's administration to someone who is bleeding internally!
The truth of the matter is that unless you're in close vicinity to a major city, if you suffer an envenomation, you've pretty much had it.
There needs to be a ground up review of snakebite treatment in Pakistan. If you folks are unable, swallow your pride and use the Indian devised protocols and polyvalent from across the border. Their serum covers the big four (Daboia, Echis, Bungarus and Naja sp.) and is very effective.
i m also graduated of that university n also lived in that braethtaking hostel.we raised our voice several times in our era for such kind of reptiles n zoo planet but nobody was there to listen n cosidered us.and then after all life saver lost life due to the negligence n ignorence.... alas shame on adminitration n corrupt caretaker
half of the report is wrong.....the hostel is nt sealed.....after 1 hour of thia accident a snakw waa found over thr that was killed by watchman....
this hapene due to carelessness of hospital staff...SHAME on them....they cant save there own students how they treat outdoor patients......such medical universities must nt be awarded wid iso certification....
she was my relative.. i know how big loss is for her family nd relatives
this is extremely devastating !! i can't think of doing housejob in this hospital now ! =( i just graduated from here. . and i always knew this thing that our hospital is the worst thing in hyd. . but this is the limit. . why wasnt she treated by anti venom within two hours. . they should be knowing that this area is full of different weird kind of animals ! they should have everything available like aspirin ! =\ i feeeel soo low after reading this post ! and want to sue those doctors and do something for her family , how can lumhs be sooooo careless**!!! -=(((
May her soul rest in peace and may God give her family strength to bear this unbearable loss...
may her soul rest in peace and may God give her family strength to bear this unbearable loss.
Precious life of dr rida fatima gone without any particular reason and careless administration. Doctors have no value of patient in practical life.
Doctor,s death in hands of doctors after 72 hours passed thats so careless administration . May Allah take her in paradise but sorry on action of management and doctors.
She was my relative nd that was very sh0cking news for all relatives as well as for LUMHS, May her S0ul rest in peace.
With so many snakes, the Anti Venom should be available like aspirin. There are methods to reduce the number of snakes in an area. Please check Online for expert advice. I hope she did not die in vain i.e, the authorities must devise a plan of action next time it happens. Also the poisonous snake's pictures should be posted for student to report and to have removed right away.
Please watch videos about snake handling on YouTube i.e, how snakes are removed by experts. The University should have at-least two well trained men on campus around the clock for Urgent Call. I have seen anti Venom made from the same snake and was administered to save the victim life. You are a Medical Institution, aren't you? It should be taught in there.
This was an avoidable tragedy. The hostels, particularly those for domestic students, are in extremely poor condition with no visible signs of security, much less groundskeepers or maintenance personnel. The entire area on which the hostels are built is essentially arid, desert land which is also home to snakes and scorpions, and the damp washroom areas of the hostels are host to plenty of likewise toxic centipedes.
This 20-year-old aspiring doctor died as a result of negligence - negligence on behalf of the LUMHS administration for failing to ensure that their students are housed in safe, secure accommodations and negligence on the behalf of medical staff who withheld treatment until it was too late for the young woman. May her soul rest in peace. Amin.
Really tragic. may her soul rest in peace and may God give her family strength to bear this unbearable loss. :(. and really a poor part from our medical authorities. Really poor!
Administration is always number one corrupt, hospital is so called ISO CERTIFIED UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL, reality is that every thing from medicine to equipment are of low standard quality, what hostel even hospital itself full of cats, dogs and snakes too. student death totally due to negligence of hospital administration that anti snake venom not given in time, university adminstration also weeping crocodile tears all are courrpt, incident shows their real face. SHAME ON LUMHS & LUH ADMINSTRATION
May her soul rest in peace :( Ameen "and LUMHS ka koi haal nahi" we know how much we have to suffer when we get any such case in emergency, but its really disappointing that even our doctors have to suffer.... plz do not ignore this issue,take a stand.. my prayer r with u.
its really sad to hear the news. may her soul rest in peace in heaven, n may GOD give courage to her family members to go through such hard time.
the main issue is not that how the snake entered her room, as i am also a graduate of this university n have spent my university life in hostel, i know that there are snakes found in this season, the main point to ponder is that why wasn't she given anti-venom as soon as she was taken to hospital???? n even more important question is that was there anti-venom available in jamshoro hospital???? was there even a doctor present to attend her??? i can bet you that in most of the wards there is no doctor present in night duty.a ward boy or at most a nurse run's the ward most of the time. situation of the jamshoro hospital is HORRIBLE and PATHETIC. even though the university has improved a lot yet needs a lot to change, and the hospital needs to be improved in every aspect.
its a shame that a medical student lost her life just because she didn't get proper treatment in her own hospital !!!!!!!!!
i also agree with priyaa this report is not exactly true that snake was killed by peons in hostel n waz present in RIDA FATIMA's room....
A snake ws found aftr ds incidnt at dat place n it ws killed by hostel watchman...n it ws seen by awl hostel gals presnt at dat tym!!!! dere r so many useless bushes n shrbs in d hstl growing which provides a residncy to such kind of reptiles ... dere r also odr reptiles n cats in our hostel...
I really feel bad for the girl, may her soul rest in peace.
On the other hand, how can LUMHS be so careless about this issue? Reading Dr. Samia's comment that there are other species of lizards as well, LUMHS admin should stop sleeping and actually take an action. This is insane, how can a big university that caters to so many students be this inefficient? I hope what the admin told media about taking actions by cutting trees and securing boundaries is actually true.
Sad. Disappointed.
Rest in peace, Amen. Our sympathies are with her family and friends and near ones. Hope people who delayed administration of venom treatment are taken to task. What a waste of precious young life.
They did find the snake afterwards, and after this incident 2 more snakes were found, one in the washroom and other in another hostel of lumhs. p.s she was bitten by the snake at 4pm and was given the anti-venom at 10.30! carelessness and irresponsibility of some people ended up like this, she cud have been saved!
I Heard the NEWS cause I was also under treatment on that day, May God Bless her heavens. Ameen !!
this is not true that they didn't find even any reptile in our hostel...... our hostel seems to be like its a jungle having many snakes, different species of lizard, dogs, cats etc they roam in our hostel like its a zoo.... rida's door corner was broken and its a thought that snake might have entered the room from there....!!! we are going to protest against LUMHS hospital and need the support of media!!
May our batch mate's soul rest in peace !! :(