PESHAWAR, April 3: Experts here have asked the government to start manufacturing anti-rabies vaccines to save thousands of people from being killed in dog- and animal-bite cases.

“Pakistan records 150,000 dog- and animal-bite cases annually. Of them, 2,000 to 5,000 die,” said Dr Fayyaz Ali at the concluding session of a two-day workshop at the Lady Reading Hospital on Monday.

According to him, the government has yet to allocate funds for the National Rabies Control Programme despite the passage of five years.

Lack of funds had been hampering the prevention of rabies in the country, he said, adding that there was an urgent need to raise the awareness level about rabies.

The workshop was jointly organised by the Infectious Disease Society of Pakistan, Pakistan Rabies Eradication Society and National Rabies Control Programme with a view to imparting training to health professionals.

Dr Ali said the anti-rabies vaccines were being imported which were largely ineffective. He said that most countries had started manufacturing of the vaccines.

Dr Janbaz Afridi said the World Health Organisation had been providing $27,000 annually for the control and prevention of rabies in the country, which was insufficient given the magnitude of the problem in the country.

A bulk of the amount, he said, went towards training of health professionals, leaving little for the purchase of vaccines by patients.