The government hospitals across Poonch district are reeling under the absence of anti-rabies vaccine, with the chemist shops also suffering acute shortage.
The locals said, “Since over a month now, all the governmenthospitals are functioning sans anti-rabies vaccine. Besides, even the privateshops are hit by the shortage now. This is a serious issue and needs immediatelooking into.”
Pertinently, multiple cases of dog bite have come to thefore in the recent days from across the district, with over a dozen cases beingreported from Mandi Tehsil on a single day itself.
Raising concern, the chemists said, “Earlier, we used toprocure our supply from private medical stores in Jammu, but nowadays theanti-rabies vaccine is not even available there. The owners of the privatestores claim that they are not receiving adequate supply from outside thestate.”
“I tried to arrange some vaccines from Jammu, butreturned empty handed. I even tried to contact stores outside the state, butthey all say that they are suffering due to acute shortage,” Shakeel Ahmed, achemist from Mandi, said.
A dog bite victim, Mushtaq Ahmed of Fatehpur, told GreaterKashmir, “I was bitten by a mad dog in my village a few days ago. The doctorsasked me to get myself vaccinated, but even after strenuous efforts I failed toget the vaccine from government hospitals in Poonch. Besides, the private shopsof Rajouri and Poonch also claimed to be running short. Later, as a lastresort, I went to Jammu and bought some vaccines from a private store.”
The Medical Officer in government hospital Mandi, Dr AbdulQuyoom, said, “Rabies can be fatal and that is why administering theanti-rabies vaccine to dog bite victims is essential.”
Chief Medical Officer, Poonch, Dr Mumtaz Bhati, confirmedthat the district is suffering due to the acute shortage of anti-rabiesvaccine. “I have taken up the matter with the directorate of health servicesJammu and we are hopeful that we will receive new supply soon,” he said.