SANGHAR, Sept 9: Relatives of dog-bite victims staged a protest against the non-availability of antiretroviral (ARV) drug at the taluka hospital Khipro on Sunday.

Villagers of Pabban near Khipro, Ari Samejo, Idrees Gujjo and many others staged the demonstration outside the press club on Sunday against the non-availability of ARV drug at hospital.

The protesters said that Mohammad Ramzan 25, son of Ari Samejo, and Mohammad Amin 12, were bitten by a rabid dog and were taken to taluka hospital for treatment but the medical superintendent, Iqbal Qaimkhani, told them that the victims should be taken to Mirpurkhas or Karachi because the vaccine was not available at taluka hospital Khipro.

The victims were then taken to Mirpurkhas and the drug was purchased from a private medical store at a cost of Rs4,000 for each patient and they are still not satisfied about the efficacy of the vaccine purchased from a private store.

ROBBERY: A tractor was snatched at gunpoint near Rawtiani. Liaquat Kaimkhani loaded his cotton (phutti) on a tractor-trolley from Waryah Mori, Khipro to Shahdadpur.

When it reached near Rawtiani in the jurisdiction of Sinjhoro police station, armed men in a car intercepted the tractor, overpowered the driver, Mumtaz Chandio, unhooked the trolley and drove away the tractor and left the trolley behind.

The driver was also kidnapped but later released near Sakrand.