NAROWAL, Oct 1: Two brothers died on Saturday night reportedly because there was no anti-dote to snake venom either at the District Headquarters Hospital in Narowal or the Mayo Hospital in Lahore.

Two sons of labourer Mohammad Irshad, of the Mahar Sharif village, were bitten by a snake on Saturday. Mohammad Asad, 11, and Mohammad Ahsan, 9, were rushed to the DHQ hospital, their uncle Mohammad Iqbal said. But doctors at the DHQ emergency referred them to Mayo saying the hospital did not have any anti-venom drug.

“We were shocked to hear that the drug was not there even at Mayo, a top state-run hospital in the province,” he said.

He was advised to take the boys to the Ganga Ram Hospital, but Ahsan died on the way to the hospital while Asad expired a few minutes after reaching there. Mr Iqbal claimed that the anti-venom drug was not there even at this hospital.

However, a Narowal DHQ Hospital official, when contacted on Sunday, said the venom anti-dote was available. When asked why were the boys referred to Lahore, he said only the doctor on duty could answer the question. The emergency record on Sunday showed that the drug had been given to the boys.

However, the hospital blood bank in charge who stores the venom anti-dote denied having issued the drug. He said that seven vials were in the bank but no one from the hospital staff had approached him for the drug on Saturday.

A Mayo Hospital official confirmed that the drug was not in the stock.

A Ganga Ram Hospital official, however, said it had the venom anti-dote.