PESHAWAR, Oct 12: Non-availability of anti-rabies vaccines in the public-sector hospitals and their high price in the open market have increased death risk from dog-bite cases in the rural parts of the NWFP.

A report says that three people, including two children, died in Buner district last month for want of anti-rabies vaccines.

According to reports from the other parts of the province, on average, around two dozen people, mostly children, are bitten by stray dogs daily.

The victims find it extremely hard to seek treatment because the government-owned hospitals do not receive any vaccines owing to paucity of funds.

An anti-rabies vaccine (ARV) manufactured by multinational companies, costs Rs3,500.

The number of stray dogs is on the rise due to negligence of the municipal authorities.

Strychnine, the poison the civic bodies concerned use to kill stray dogs, is very expensive and the process of killing is also risky. Also, dumping their carcasses isn’t any easy task for the municipal authorities or the public.

ARV, the vaccine being manufactured by the National Institute of Health, Islamabad, is administered to the rabies patients free of cost, and is stated to have hazardous side effects. The vaccine, according to some doctors, destroy central nervous system.

The sole vaccination centre in the province is the office of the executive district officer, (EDO) health, Peshawar, which has been receiving between 30 and 35 dog-bite patients daily.

Due to the non-availability of ARVs in the public sector hospitals, doctors refer the patients to EDO office for vaccination. But the office isn’t getting sufficient quantity of the vaccine.