MUZAFFARGARH: Two persons bitten by dogs four days ago say that public hospitals from the basic health units to the Muzaffargarh District Headquarters (DHQ) Hospital have refused them pre-rabies vaccination.

Abbas Bhutta said his son Ansar Bhutta (18), of Pir Jahanian, was bitten by a street dog but no public hospital in south Punjab had rabies vaccine. The other dog-bite patient is Saliha Bibi (10).

Mr Bhutta said when they approached hospitals, they were told to keep an eye on the dog that bit them, and if they turned out to be rabid and the patients developed rabies symptoms, public hospitals would treat them.

He said he also approached the Nishtar Hospital in Multan, region’s biggest public hospital, but to no avail. He said a few private pharmacies had the vaccine but its price was out of their reach.

Muzaffargarh DHQ Medical Superintendent Dr Mehr Iqbal said public health facilities had been short of vaccine since June last. He said the DHQ Hospital administration paid Rs2 million to the National Institute of Health Management in June for rabies vaccine and despite several reminders, they were not provided with the vaccine. He said every dog bite case was not of rabies.

Mr Bhutta said they had killed the dog after the incident to avoid more cases but the dog was acting abnormal when it was caught and culled. He said they were applying herbal and desi treatment on the bite wounds.

Health Chief Executive Officer Dr Ziaul Rehman did not attend phone calls.

IT PARK: Up to 400 acres have been allocated for the biggest information technology project of the province in Muzaffargarh.

Planning and Development department Chairman Habibur Rehman Gilani and Dera Ghazi Khan Commissioner Tahir Khurshed said this here on Tuesday. They also visited the site.

Mr Gilani said the park would be a game changer for the education, health and other sector and would create jobs for the people of six districts of south Punjab. The site is near the Recepe Tayyip Erdogan Hospital.

The commissioner said Sindh and Balochistan provinces would also benefit from the IT park of Pakistan. He said the groundbreaking of the project would be held after the project concept was approved by the chief minister.

Deputy Commissioner Dr Ehtasham Anwar said that Muzaffargarh’s population was more than four million but it had no university. He said a Higher Education Department team had already visited Muzaffargarh to select a site for the university. He said the IT park would have an engineering university, vocational centres and IT projects centres.

Mr Gilani and the commissioner visited the Recepe Tayyip Erdogan hospital where Medical Suprintendent Dr Irfan Javed briefed them about the hospital.

Published in Dawn, February 21st, 2019