Antidote Stocking at Hospitals in North Palestine

Table 3: The current availability of 16 selected antidotes at all hospitals of north
Palestine and comparing it to the consensus guidelines for antidotes stocking in
emergency departments in the US [15]

NA: not available

* could be available in other different presentations

Discussion:

Antidotes are therapeutic agents
intended to modify or counteract with
the clinical effects of particular toxic
substances in the human body;
antidote availability may often be life
saving for poisoned individuals.[5]
Although their clinical importance
should not be emphasized over good
supportive care, delayed use or
unavailability of antidotes could result
in catastrophic consequences.[3,20]
For example, the outcome in patients
with severe methemoglobinemia is
poor without intravenous methylene
blue treatment [21]. In cyanide
poisoning, the lack of prompt antidote
treatment with nitrite and thiosulfate
may result in anoxic brain injury or

death.[3] Patients with severe
cholinergic syndrome from
organophosphate or carbamate
insecticide poisoning are likely to die
from respiratory failure without the
early institution of atropine.[22] Since
the timely use of antidotes is
potentially lifesaving in certain
poisonings, maintaining a sufficient
stock of antidotes is a responsibility of
any facility that provides emergency
care. If a poisoned patient requires an
antidote that is not stocked at a
particular hospital, then either the
patient must be transferred or the
antidote must be obtained from
another hospital. This is complicated
by the fact that Palestine has longer

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