'North Corpn clinics short of rabies shots'

North Delhi Municipal Corporation-run hospitals and clinics do not have life-saving anti-rabies vaccine to treat dog bite or monkey bite cases.

Every year approximately 8,000 to 10,000 dog bites cases are reported in the areas under the north civic agency, and an equal number of monkey bite cases come to light.

Director of Hospital Administration Dr D K Seth informed the North Corporation’s Standing Committee meeting that the supply of the anti-rabies serum to the civic agency’s hospitals was “negligible” in the past two weeks.

He added that between 35,000 and 40,000 units or vials of the serum are needed every month in the North Corporation’s hospitals and clinics.

“We have written to the supplier and are having a meeting on Monday. If supply doesn’t resume in one week, we will have a serious problem,” he said.

Another senior official with the North Corporation health department said, “For the time being, patients are buying the serum independently or are being referred to RML or Safdarjung hospitals.”

A councillor from Kohat Enclave, Tilak Ram Gupta, raised the issue in the North Corporation’s Standing Committee meeting.

“An elderly woman was bitten by a dog on Tuesday and we tried arranging anti-rabies injection in MCD health centres and hospitals but we didn’t find it. At the end we reached the city government’s Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital around 10.30 pm, and we got the injection,” said Gupta.

“We met patients at RML Hospital who were waiting there since afternoon to get the anti-rabies injection. There’s a dearth of anti-rabies vaccine in both MCD hospitals and city government hospitals,” he added.

Councillors said that they get almost 10 complaints daily about the menace of dogs. “I get over a dozen calls about dog bite cases every day. The shortage of the vaccination is worrisome,” Gupta said.

“When I approached the civic agency health department it said that the company has stopped supplying the anti-rabies vaccine to the corporation,” Gupta said.