VEHARI, June 17: The anti-rabies vaccine has been in short supply in almost all government hospitals, RHCs and BHUs in the district for quite some time.

The DHQ hospital storekeeper, Muhammad Tariq, told this reporter that the vaccine had not been available in the hospital for a month.

However, some patients from Pirmurad said that the vaccine had not been available in the hospital for the last one year. A doctor at DHQ hospital said that at least 400 vials were needed a month.

The hospital MS said that shortage of funds was one of the reasons for unavailability of the vaccine. The DHQ hospital weekly receives dozens of dog-bite cases but asks patients to come back after a week and watch whether or not the dog becomes rabid in the meantime.

The well-off patients usually buy the vaccine from medical stores for Rs800 while the poor and the illiterate run to spiritual healers or resort to other methods in search of a cure.

According to information collected by this correspondent, more than 15 people died in the district in recent months due to unavailability of the vaccine. The situation is worst in the rural areas where men and women working in the fields are more vulnerable to dog attacks.

Chak 24/WB, Machiwal, Muslim Town, Peoples Colony, Danywal, Pirmurad, rural Mailsi and Ludan have become no-go areas in the evening due to stray dogs. The TMA authorities stopped killing stray dogs a long time ago.

People urged the government to allow the rural health centres to purchase vaccine directly from the NIH in Islamabad. As these centres are always short of medicines, patients are referred to the DHQ hospital, where the vaccine is not available either.