JACOBABAD, Sept 3: More than a hundred hepatitis C patients staged a rally on Monday in protest against the Jacobabad Civil Hospital administration, after they learnt that the hospital had given away the vaccines meant for registered patients to the influential ones.

The rally started from the hospital and terminated at the Quetta road where the participants burnt tyres. Soon afterwards, police reached there and took them to the hospital where they held talks with the civil surgeon.

The civil surgeon admitted to them that their vaccines had been provided to some political and influential persons, which led tot the shortage. He had had no more budget to buy vaccines for them patients. It would take some time before the hospital received the vaccines’ supply, he said.

He assured the patients that a lapse of 15 days or more would not affect their treatment.

The protesting patients, including Haseena, Moran, Hanifan, Habibullah Mangi, Ghulam Mohammad, Ahmed Ali and Zulfiqar Solangi complained to the EDO of health who had had also reached there that they had been making daily visits to the hospital for vaccines but did not get any.

The EDO assured them that the vaccines would be provided to them within two days. Later, the protesters dispersed peacefully.