Mkonto Manufacturing

Silver’s Anti-Recoil Heel-Plate – Research Press Silver’s Anti-Recoil Heel-Plate Posted on 2018-01-202025-03-08 You are here: Home > Fi****ms > Accessories Written by: David Minshall S.W. Silver & Co in their 1883 “Transatlantic Travellers Hand-book” were advertising themselves as being “established nearly a century”. Originally clothier...

Antivenom crisis. On 14 May 2026 Prof Mlisana, C.E.O. of the National Health Laboratories, issued a press release stating that the production of snake-, spider- and scorpion antivenom was suspended that no stock was available until further notice. This is not a new problem as antivenom have either been unavailable or in short supply since Covid.

Two weeks back we had a confirmed Boomslang bite on a human and not a single hospital had Monovalent antivenom available. Yesterday there was another mad scramble for Monovalent Boomslang antivenom for a dog that was bitten and nothing could be found. It turned out to be a Puff Adder bite but highlighted the antivenom crisis.

Fortunately an alternative product has reached our shores - Panaf Premium is manufactured in India from African snake venom and has been imported and sold in South Africa for several years. It is sold in powder form, does not require refrigeration and lasts for four years before it expires. As it is not a registered drug in South Africa, hospitals and veterinarians must apply for a special permit under Section 21 of SAPHRA before this product can be purchased. This can be quite a process.

Panaf Premium is approved by the WHO and has been used on many snakebites, both humans and pets and the initial results are very good. Unlike the local product patients rarely experience a severe allergic reaction.

Although we are entering winter and seeing less bites, people are warned to be extra alert, especially those that work with venomous snakes, as many hospitals and veterinarians do not currently have sufficient stock of antivenom to treat snakebite emergencies. We sure hope that SAVP get their production back up to acceptable levels and that the importers of Panaf manage to get their product licensed in South Africa.