Zak comes to the rescue when customer has severe allergic reaction to bee sting

Well done to pharmacy manager ZakUl-Haque from our Pilsworth store who quickly came to the rescue when a man suffered a severe allergic reaction to a bee sting.

The man, who was on the phone to the emergency services when he ran into the store, was gasping for breath with his face starting to swell up when Zak stepped in to help.

Zak calmly jabbed an EpiPen into the man's thigh which released a dose of the drug epinephrine into his bloodstream which reversed the affects of the bee venom.

Forty-two-year-old Zak, who's been nominated for an Asda service superstar award, said: "The man came running into the store and over to the pharmacy saying that he'd been stung by a bee. He was confused, falling around and gasping for breath. He was red in the face which was starting to swell up a little.

"He was already on the phone to the emergency services and he said to me that he was having an anaphylactic shock and needed an EpiPen. I took the phone off him and had a word with the emergency services.

"We are trained to use the EpiPens as part of our flu vaccination service in case anyone has an allergic reaction to one of the jabs, so we have the EpiPens in stock, although I've never had to use one for real before.

"I administered the jab into his thigh and he immediately started to feel a bit better – it all happened very, very fast. In a matter of minutes he was sitting up and talking a bit more."

He told Zak that he'd had to go to hospital on a previous occasion after being stung by a bee so he knew the signs of an anaphylactic shock.

Paramedics arrived soon after, assessed him and took him to hospital by ambulance to be checked over further. The man's made a full recovery.

Zak, who's worked at the store since 2009, said: "Thankfully he was okay, but it could have been a very serious situation. I was just doing my job really; something I'm trained for."

The store's customer service manager Adam Ramjuan said: "We are incredibly proud of Zak. He's a great guy and a great pharmacist. When an emergency such as this happened which was not routine Zak was able to rely on his training.

"He knew there was something seriously wrong with the guy and by administering the EpiPen he potentially saved his life."