KASUR: Two persons bitten by dog in as many incidents had to resort to quacks allegedly after being denied anti-rabies vaccine at two local health facilities, including the District Headquarters Hospital.

Farooq Ahmed, 26, of Bulandi Hithar village was bitten by his pet dog who turned rabid on April 20. According to Ahmed, his pet dog went missing for four days. When the dog returned, he attacked Ahmed, leaving him injured. The dog was later killed by the locals.

Ahmed was rushed to the DHQ Hospital but was denied anti-rabies vaccine. The hospital staff claimed the vaccine was not available. Later, on April 21, Ahmed went to Roshan Bheela Hospital where he was again told that the facility was short of vaccine.

Ahmed again visited DHQ hosptial last Sunday but to no avail. He is now being treated by a quack.

Similarly, Fazal Haq, a mason of Deepalpur, who was bitten by a dog at Shamaspura village a few days back, was also denied vaccine at Roshan Bheela Hospital “due to its non-availability”.

Haq told Dawn by phone, that after being denied vaccine at the health facility, he had to rely on a traditional method in which his wounds were sprinkled with red chillies.

The situation belies claim of the district administration that had issued a press release about a couple of weeks back saying that anti-rabies vaccine would be available at every health facility.

Local health authority Chief Executive Officer Dr Abdul Majeed, however, insisted that the vaccine was “easily available” at all the health facilities in the district.

“There must have been some confusion,” he replied when told about the two cases of dog bite and the response of local health facilities.

Published in Dawn, April 26th, 2017