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Beware of snake bites: Sen. Raffy Tulfo, during Monday’s plenary session, May 6, 2024, brings to the attention of his colleagues the issue of snake bites in the provinces which, according to him, is an urgent matter that requires immediate action. Tulfo filed a resolution last April 16 for the Committee on Health to look into this concern and posted the matter on social media to alert the authorities and to make people aware of the need to be careful about snakebites. “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 for various venomous animals found in the Philippines, most especially venom for cobra,” Tulfo said in his privilege speech. “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,” he added. In a study of the National Center for Bio-technololgy Information on the Health and Economic Impact of Snakebites in ASEAN countries published in 2022, there are about 13,377 snakebite victims per year in the Philippines, with 550 resulting in death, while others are amputated. (Bibo Nueva España/Senate PRIB)