Acute anti-rabies vaccine shortage grips private hospitals, medical stores in Pune

PUNE: Acute shortage of the anti-rabies vaccine has gripped private hospitals and medical stores in the city following limited supply by manufacturers and most of the stock being acquired by the state- and civic-run hospitals.
As per civic data, the city records an average of 700 to 800 dog bite cases every month, which means an average of 22 people need intradermal (within the skin) anti-rabies vaccine (ARV) every day.“There are around 10 to 15 specialized distributors of ARV in Pune. If the monthly requirement of each of the distributor is 1,000 doses for the local market, they are getting only 100 to 200 doses,” Sagar Gupta, the president of the Maharashtra State Vaccine Dealers’ Association, told TOI.

Elaborating on the reason behind the shortage, Gupta said, “The production of some of the manufacturing companies has gone down for various technical reasons. A huge consignment of ARV, which used to get imported from China, has also been cut down. Besides, the government has taken a big chunk of ARV for public hospitals. This has been the situation for the last one year, but it becomes acute when the cases of dog bite go up.”
The situation is still better as state-run Sassoon General Hospital and PMC-run hospitals/dispensaries. “We currently have a stock of 1,100 vials of ARV with us, which will last for about two-and-a-half-month. We have already placed a fresh order. The consignment will arrive soon. People in need of ARV can get vaccinated at Sassoon hospital,” Muralidhar Tambe, deputy dean at Sassoon hospital, said.
Public health expert Anjali Sabne, assistant medical officer of health, Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), said, “We have 14,000 vials available with us for this year (2019). All PMC-run hospitals and dispensaries provide ARV. A patient facing shortage can approach our nearest hospital for vaccination against dog bite.”
Medical expert Prakash Dhere, who mainly treats patients of dog bite from Padmavati, Dhankawdi, Katraj and Sukhsagarnagar, said, “There is an acute shortage of ARV in private sector. Often, we have to ask patients to go to the Sassoon hospital for vaccination, which consumes an entire day for many of these patients. Not all PMC-run hospitals have ARVs too. Only a few like Naidu hospital, Kamala Nehru hospital and some other hospitals have them.”
Dhere met a 54-year-old dog-bite patient last month who could not find ARV in Osmanabad and Solapur. “He had to eventually come to Pune to get vaccinated at the Naidu hospital,” he said.
PMC’s veterinary superintendent Prakash Wagh said, “We have intensified sterilization operation of stray dogs in the city. We aim at sterilizing around 18,000 stray dogs this year. A budget provision of Rs 2.40 crore has been made to carry out the task.”