PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has added anti-rabies vaccine to the medical coordination committee’s list to ensure its free of cost availability in government hospitals and save the lives of people bitten by dogs.

Last year, the government had shortlisted a Karachi-based firm that couldn’t start supply of the vaccine to the province and was ultimately blacklisted by the authorities.

“The National Institute of Health (NIH), Islamabad, which is supposed to manufacture the vaccine and supply the same to the countrywide hospitals, is unable to cope with the high demand from the provinces,” sources said.

They said that majority of the dog-bite victims happened to be poor, who couldn’t afford the cost of vaccine in the market and relied on the government hospitals.

“The health department has analysed bids given by about a dozen manufacturers of anti-rabies vaccine, of which one is being finalised,” said sources.

DG health says issue of non-availability of vaccine resolved permanently

Dr Arshad Ahmed Khan, the director-general health services Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, told Dawn that the issue of anti-rabies vaccine had permanently been resolved that year. He hoped that there would be no complaint about its non-availability in any health facility.

“In fact the problem is now permanently resolved as we have included ARV in our new MCC list and the district health authorities can purchase the vaccine as much as they need from next week. We have finalised the rate and the districts have been authorised to purchase it at the same price,” he said.

Dr Arshad said that the vaccine was used as drug of choice in dog-bite cases as first line of defence. “Health department is committed to ensuring its free availability not only in the health institutions but also in the entire market. Even at present, most of the hospitals have stock of vaccine for free provision to the people,” he added.

Sources said that health department authorised the district health officers and medical superintendents of the hospitals to buy the vaccine in accordance with their needs when the contractor failed to supply it last year.

“They were authorised to purchase ARVs up to Rs50,000 from the market,” they added.

Sources said that health department was asking the districts to ensure free availability of vaccine to patients either through local purchase from the market or by following Rule 10 of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Procurement Regularity Authority. However, the district hospitals purchased expensive medicines from the market using the same powers instead of anti-rabies vaccine because those were needed by the poor people, they added.

“Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is the only province that has been asking the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan to intervene in the matter by directing the registered importers to ensure adequate supply to the market throughout the country and KP in particular to save lives of people,” said sources.

Health experts said that the affected people need vaccination five times within the first 28 days of the dog attack. “Everyone bitten by dog must get vaccinated,” they added.

They said that all such wounds, even of minor nature, should be monitored to see signs of infection and that every person with dog bite history should be subjected to compulsory vaccination otherwise there was certain death.

Published in Dawn, September 24th, 2019