There will be a rise in snakebite fatalities if hospitals do not maintain appropriate stocks of antivenom, the head of the Australian Venom Research Unit (AVRU) David Williams has warned.

Dr Williams said it was especially surprising regional hospitals were being complacent regarding stocks, given they were more likely to treat snakebite victims.

"Historically, it's a product that has been available in hospitals even in the most remote corners of the country," he said.

"And, as a result of that, we have a very low fatality rate — one or two a year on average."

Walwa Bush Nursing Centre chief executive Sandy Grieve, based near Albury in Victoria, said the majority of rural practitioners preferred to apply first aid in the case of snakebite and transfer the patient to a larger regional centre.

"We stopped stocking antivenom three years ago," Dr Grieve said.

"We had previously [stocked it] for 30 years … in the 30 years I've been here, we've never seen a snakebite that included or involved envenomation.

"The majority of practitioners are a little wary of using antivenom, particularly in remote areas, because of the risk of anaphylaxis and risk of serious reactions."

Dr Grieve said the State Government had come a long way in learning to trust health services to know their own communities, risk profiles and clinicians.

"And they can make their own local decisions that will ultimately lead to the very best outcome for their patient — rather than mandating, which is what they used to do 20 or 30 years ago."

Antivenom 'no longer relevant in area'

Porepunkah veterinary technician Lizzie Cann said she recently called Alpine Health in northern Victoria and discovered its facilities in Myrtleford, Bright and Mount Beauty did not stock antivenom.

She had been motivated to call after hearing about a man who died in NSW after being bitten by a snake while trying to protect his pet dog.

"They said they no longer stocked it because it wasn't relevant in the area … if Bright doesn't have it, and someone gets bitten in Harrietville or Falls Creek or Omeo, what do you do?" she said.

Ms Cann said she offered to make an agreement between the vet clinic and the hospital to share antivenom stocks, but the hospital had declined.

The Victorian Health Department said stocking antivenom was not compulsory, but hospitals should be able to provide treatment to patients who had been bitten by snakes.

Cost, use-by-date a major factor

The first national study into venomous creatures, conducted by the AVRU, revealed about 6,000 hospitalisations due to snakebites in Australia between 2001 and 2013, resulting in 27 deaths.

"In realistic terms, snakebite fatalities were far more common in the 1940s and 50s than they are now, and because we had a much smaller population, the rate [per capita] would have been higher," Dr Williams said.

While snakebites have plateaued, he said hospitals still had an obligation to provide high quality treatment.

"The reality is, if we start pulling antivenom supplies out of rural areas, that statistic will change."

While funding for antivenom is delivered to public hospitals in their overall drugs budget, a Victorian Health Department spokesperson said hospitals made their own decisions as to whether they stocked supplies of antivenom, which were considered "relatively expensive".

There is no federal approach to ensuring hospitals have antivenom, but the Department of Health said it subsidised costs by providing funding to vaccine manufacturer Seqirus to ensure antivenoms were manufactured and supplied to the open Australian market.

Price 'not an adequate excuse'

Goulburn Valley Health critical care director Emanoil Geaboc said a single dose of antivenom could cost between $1,500 and $2,000.

He said because antivenom was a biological product with a use-by-date of about three years, and snakebite cases were infrequent, some hospitals assumed it was an unnecessary expense.

"Each hospital has the capability of a clinical care framework and snake antivenom should be part of that … to have one or two ampoules of tiger or brown and to have some polyvalent isn't a big ask," Dr Geaboc said.

"The excuses you hear all the time is the price, but I don't think that's an adequate excuse."

Elizabeth Mourik recovers in hospital after being bitten by a snake in 2015. ( Supplied: Pieter and Elizabeth Mourik )

Proper treatment prevents death

Albury-Wodonga resident Elizabeth Mourik said she might have died from a brown snakebite had she not received proper treatment.

She was bitten on the ankle while walking with her husband, doctor Peter Mourik, and their dog in Baranduda in 2015.

"I can't believe people don't understand how bad they are, and the repercussions. They should care much more," she said.

Ms Mourik suffered disseminated intravascular coagulation, and received brown and tiger snake antivenom, and blood and plasma transfusions.

She said doctors had not been not hopeful of her recovery because it was one of the worst cases they had seen in the region.

But with therapy she is regaining mobility, speech and eyesight.

Elizabeth Mourik had extensive injuries after she was bitten by a snake in 2015. ( Supplied: Peter and Elizabeth Mourik )

Dr Williams said the biggest culprit in Australia was the common brown snake — and swift treatment was critical.

"Any delay in treatment is obviously going to result in a poorer clinical outcome," he said.

"That may just mean they have a longer period of hospitalisation, or that person could potentially be at risk of losing their life."

He thinks it should be compulsory for every hospital to have supplies of antivenom for the treatment of at least two cases of snake bite at the same time — or an effective treatment plan.

"Ensure all the bigger district hospitals have supplies and the smaller feeder hospitals have contingency plans for the rapid transfer of the patient to the district hospital or the transfer of the antivenom," he said.

"People do die of snakebite in Australia. If people don't think that happens, they're very foolish."