Amid sharp rise in the number of dog bites during the ongoing breeding season, when some of the animals turn mad and tend to bite people, shortage of anti-rabies vaccine (ARV) in the district civil surgeon's office store hampers treatment of the serious patients.
The breeding season of dogs is from mid-September to mid-November, said district livestock officer Shahjamal Khondokar.
On a visit to Bazar, Kalibari, Madhar, Post Office, and Ananda Pul intersections in the district town, this correspondent saw dozens of crazy street dogs in big groups fighting on crowded roads, creating panic among pedestrians.
The street dogs have bitten a large number of people, including school children, who are flocking to Nilphamari 250-bed hospital for ARV, but it is not available there.
Resident Medical Officer (RMO) Dr Hasanur Rahman said around 800 patients visited the hospital in September for treatment with bite injuries, 95 percent caused by dogs.
Five hundred seventy-five patients with dog bites visited the hospital in August, 450 in July and 312 in June, indicating that the number of such patients rises during the breeding season of dogs.
“We need around 800-900 vials of ARV a month during this emergency period, but we had only 100 vials in September, which is inadequate,” Dr Hasanur said.
“With this meagre supply, we were able to give treatment to only 100 patients in September, as a patient needs a full vial containing four injections to be taken four times at certain intervals,” the RMO said.
The vaccine supply was only 50 vials per month in June, July and August, he added.
Doctors say that if a victim is not injected with ARV within a certain time, he could be infected with hydrophobia and die.
As most victims cannot get the vaccine from the government hospital, they are compelled to buy it at very high price from medicine shops, patients said.
Bhoirobi Rani Roy, 22, a victim from Horish Chandra Path village in Jaldhaka upazila, said, “I did not get ARV from Nilphamari 250-bed hospital as the store keeper said the stock was finished. I had to buy imported vaccine from a medicine shop at a very high price.”
ARV with brand name Rabix vc, supplied by Incepta Vaccine Ltd, is usually given free in government hospitals.
Imported vaccines Rabipur from India and Verorab from France are found in the open market, but they are very costly. A full course of four injections of Rabipur costs Tk 2,600, while Verorab costs Tk 3,000.
Ramzan Ali, a rickshaw puller of Goyabari village under Dimla upazila came to the hospital with his granddaughter, who was bitten by a mad dog.
“Senior staff nurse Nazma Begum told me to buy the full course from an outside drug shop, and she would inject it free, but I can't afford it. Now I've no way but to go to rural kabirajes for taking unscientific treatment, which may be fatal,” he lamented.
Civil Surgeon of Nilphamari Dr Abdur Rashid said he had sent a letter to the higher authorities about the shortage of ARV and mentioning the actual demand.