Sassoon Hospital faces shortage of anti-rabies vaccines
Sassoon General Hospital and BJ Medical College are facing an acute shortage of anti-rabies vaccine and anti-rabies serum due to large number of dog bite cases
The Sassoon General Hospital (SGH) and BJ Medical College (BJMC) are facing an acute shortage of anti-rabies vaccine (ARV) and anti-rabies serum (ARS) due to a large number of dog bite cases, particularly from areas under the jurisdiction of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC). These patients are supposed to be treated by the civic body leading to a shortage of drugs at SGH, said the officials.
The SGH is a tertiary care hospital and is supposed to treat extreme animal bite cases including, dog bites. In a month the hospital treats around 1200 to 1300 dog bite cases. Most of these patients are regular dog bite cases and don’t require treatment at a tertiary care facility. This exhausts the critical ARV and ASV stock in a couple of months,’ they said.
Dr Yallapa Jadhav, medical superintendent of SGH, informed, “The stock of ARV and ARS which was recently procured through local purchase is over. How are we going to treat the dog bite patients.”
The SGH gets an annual stock of 10,000 ARS vials and 12,000 ARV doses for the entire year. According to officials, this stock will be utilised in two to three months.
Dog bite cases are categorised as Grade I, Grade II and Grade III dog bites. Grade II dog bite cases require a vaccine and Grade III dog bite cases require a vaccine and immunoglobulin (ARS). The PMC has dog bite treatment at all its OPDs in the maternity home and clinics. Besides, three hospitals Naidu Hospital, Kamla Nehru and Sonawane Hospital provide a round-the-clock dog bite treatment facility, said PMC officials.
Dr Jadhav further informed that SGH will write to PMC requesting to provide ARV and ASV to avoid inconvenience to the patient.
“The hospital, which is primarily meant to treat severe Grade III dog bite cases, has been stretched thin as it is also catering to Grade II cases—ordinarily the responsibility of municipal healthcare facilities,” he said.
Dr Sanjeev Wavare, assistant health chief of PMC, said, the dog bite treatment is available free of cost at most of the PMC-run hospitals.
“We have adequate stock of ARV and ARS and there is no need for patients to visit SGH for treatment. Only severe dog bite patients should visit SGH to avoid unnecessary load on them. However, if SGH has a shortage of drugs we will help them with some stock. We had done this in the past,” he said.
