Desperate father nearly kills anaemic daughter with snake venom 'treatment'

He had wanted to help, but a man in China inadvertently poisoned his eight-year-old daughter after allowing a cobra to bite her on the wrist, believing it would help treat her blood disorder.

Wang Jingshuai from Hebei attempted to cure his daughter's anaemia at home using the snake he had acquired from a friend.

South China Morning Post reported that the girl suffers from aplastic anaemia, a condition in which the bone marrow does not produce adequate red blood cells in the body.

As the girl's medical expenses had exhausted her family's savings, her desperate father resorted to using folk remedies to treat her condition last Thursday (Jan 7).

According to CCTV News , the 33-year-old man had acted on his friend's suggestion to use snake venom to "fight poison with poison," which is based on a popular Chinese saying.

Fortunately, the girl was saved after she was rushed to the hospital. She is now in stable condition.

After endangering his daughter's life with the alternative treatment, he told Imagine China that he deeply regretted his actions.

minlee@sph.com.sg