Woman bitten by rabid dogs could not get vaccine

LAHORE :An elderly woman bitten by rabid dogs was failed to get the rabies vaccine in various hospitals of the City.

Rehmat Bibi, 70, was bitten by a stray dog in the Raiwind area when she was taking back her grandson from school. She was referred to the Rural Health Centre (RHC) in Raiwind after rabies vaccine at nearby hospital was not available. The health centre too had no the vaccine and its staff referred the woman to Services Hospital, Lahore. The hospital staff said there was no vaccine in the hospital and advised her to visit other hospitals of the City to get vaccinated for dog-bite treatment. The disappointed elderly woman returned her home in Raiwind without vaccination.

An alarming rise in dog-bite incidents is being reported across the country with a common complaint about scarcity of the rabies vaccine. The doctors advise inoculation of rabies vaccine soon after the dog bite. A victim of a rabid dog-bite is likely to suffer from hydrophobia, extreme fear of water, a symptom of rabies infection in humans.