Porepunkah resident Lizzie Cann, a veterinary technician, said hospital staff told her there was no antivenom on site when she rang to check after a client mentioned this situation.

“They confirmed that they haven’t stocked it for about a year and a half now,” she said.

“They said patients would be sent to Wangaratta, which was a little bit concerning for me given the time frame.

“When that’s happening (snake bites) in places like Harrietville, it would take well over an hour to get to Wangaratta.”

A Tamworth man, 24, reportedly died within an hour of being bitten by a suspected brown snake last week.

Alpine Health acting chief executive Trevor Marshall would not confirm whether antivenom was held at Bright hospital but referred to the recent Department of Health and Human Services policy direction around snake bites.

“We’re following departmental policy at this point in time,” Mr Marshall said.

Department spokesman Graeme Walker said the Emergency Clinical Care Network developed guidelines in January 2017 to ensure the safest possible treatment for people who had been bitten.

“Hospitals make their own decisions as to whether they stock supplies of antivenom,” he said.

Under the guidelines a hospital should be able to provide monitoring in a high dependency/critical care area, access to 24-hour laboratory-based pathology services and access to snake antivenom stock.

“Where a health service cannot meet any of these aspects of care, interhospital transfer is likely required,” Mr Walker said.

Miss Cann said the vet clinic where she worked always had antivenom and treated animals for snake bites regularly in summer.

“A lot of the time the clients do say that their dog or their cat has basically prevented them from getting bitten,” she said.

“If my patients are receiving better care than their owners, then there’s something very wrong.

“No one’s disputing that Wangaratta has got more facilities and that’s where the continued care should happen.

“It’s more in case of emergency and what do we do if people can’t get to those other places. If you can’t get to Wangaratta what’s the back-up plan?”