Paucity of rabies vaccine due to lack of storage

HYDERABAD: Except for the major government hospitals in the cities and district headquarters, most of the government hospitals in the state are not equipped to store the anti-rabies vaccine (ARV). This is precisely the reason why deaths due to rabies continue to occur, say health officials.The authorities say that the government has not been able to equip all hospitals with facilities to store the vaccine, which remains viable for only a couple of days without proper storage. Though about 15-20 persons die due to rabies every year, officials say the government cannot afford to equip all primary healthcare centres (PHCs) and community health centres (CHCs) with machinery to store ARV.“We require a special storage facility for the ARV. It would cost a bomb if we start storing the drug in every PHC or CHC. However, we are supplying at least one ARV vial (1 ml) costing Rs 300-Rs 400 in the open market to each PHC. If that is not used within a couple of days or kept at the wrong temperature, it is wasted,” said an official in the health and medical department.Officials point out that even if the government provides storage facilities in all hospitals, the unpredictable power cuts in rural areas present a difficulty. They also reason that a dog- or monkey-bite victim should be administered four 0.2 ml doses of the vaccine over a period of one month whereas each ARV vial contains 1 ml. Each vial can be administered to five people in a day in cities like Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam where at least 100 persons fall prey to dog-bites every day. But in the rural areas, the number of dog bites are not so numerous per day, and an opened vial will only serve the purpose of one patient or two, while the rest of the vaccine will go waste.Currently, about 4.8 lakh vials are available with the health and medical department and the government is spending around Rs 15 crore for ARV. However, people seem to have no option but to rush to a few hospitals in cities and towns if they need ARV or simply buy it from private medical stores.