The government as well as private hospitals in Rajouri andPoonch towns have been facing acute shortage of anti-rabies vaccination.
A health official said on condition of anonymity, “We’refacing this shortage (of vaccination) from the last one year. And only Rajouriand Poonch is not affected by this crisis. The situation is same in otherhospitals of the region as well, as the concerned authorities have not beensupplying enough vaccination.”
In Rajouri, the health official said that only 50 vials werereceived in June this year while for 10 months prior to June, the authoritiesdidn’t provide any supply. In Poonch too, only 50 vials were received lastmonth.
CMO Rajouri, Dr Sunil Sharma, said, “The fifty vialsprovided last month are under utilization and a further request has been madeto the higher authorities to provide more stock at the earliest.”
Medical Superintendent of GMC Associated Hospital Rajouri,Dr Suresh Gupta, said: “We haven’t received the supply of anti-rabiesvaccination from around 10 months. We’ve made a request to higher authoritiesto provide the vaccination at the earliest.”
CMO Poonch, Dr Mumtaz Bhatti said that of the 50 vials receivedlast month, twenty have been provided to District Hospital Poonch and rest toother hospitals of the town.
“In fact there is a severe shortage. But we’re hopeful thatwe will receive the supply soon as the higher authorities are aware about thecrisis,” he said.
Meanwhile, Managing Director of the J&K Medical SuppliesCorporation Limited, Shiv Kumar Gupta, when contacted, said, “A fresh supply of3500 vials has been supplied to Directorate of Health Services Jammu forfurther distribution.”