Civil Hospital runs out of anti-rabies vaccine

Manav Mander

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, February 17

Last week, councillors of the Congress and Ludhiana MP Ravneet Singh Bittu blamed the Municipal Corporation authorities for failure to effectively tackle the stray dog menace in the city and staged a protest at the MC office. To aggravate the problem, the Civil Hospital has now run out of the anti-rabies vaccine.

It has been nearly five days that the anti-rabies vaccine is out of stock at the Civil Hospital. Nearly 35-40 new and old patients daily visit the Civil Hospital for getting the vaccine shots. Since most of the patients belong to the weaker sections of society, they are unable to purchase the vaccine from private chemists.

“I have been doing the rounds of the hospital to get my daughter the anti-rabies vaccine but every time I visit here, I am told to come tomorrow. It is not possible for me to buy the vaccine from a private shop as it costs around Rs 300. If the vaccine is not provided by the hospital within two days, I will have to arrange money as I don’t want to delay her vaccination,” said Naresh, a visitor to the Civil Hospital.

“Another patient at the hospital said his son was bleeding profusely after he was bitten by a dog. I rushed him to the Civil Hospital. But I was disappointed to know that the anti-rabies vaccine was not available at the hospital. I had to rush my son to a private hospital that charged nearly Rs 500 for one day’s treatment,” said Ram Parkash, father of a five-year-old boy.

The Senior Medical Officer, Dr Parwinder Pal Singh Sidhu, said the vaccine had been out of stock at the hospital for the past five days. They have informed the head office and it is expected that the vaccine will arrive here within a day or two, he added.