Another dog-bite victim dies of rabies in Karachi.

KARACHI -- A man suffering from full-blown rabies after being bitten by a stray dog in New Karachi over a month ago died on Tuesday, as the death toll from dog bites in Sindh reached 20 amid shortage of anti-rabies vaccine (ARV), a growing population of stray dogs and inadequate facilities.

Officials said that 46-year-old Mohammad Saleem was with his four-year-old daughter at an area shop some six weeks ago when she was attacked by a stray dog. He tried his best to keep his daughter safe but in the process the dog bit his thumb.

'He was initially taken to the Sindh Government Hospital New Karachi and then to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, but both hospitals denied him vaccination claiming that they did not have the anti-rabies vaccine,' said his younger brother Mohammad Amir. 'After weeks of the incident, his condition started deteriorating and we finally shifted him to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC). But by that time he had developed full-blown rabies.'

The victim died at the hospital. He was a tailor by profession and father of six, the officials said.

The latest incident in the provincial metropolis belies the claims of the Pakistan Peoples Party chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and its Sindh government, which has been ruling the province for a third consecutive term since 2008, that it can meet the challenge of rabies in Sindh.

'A few days ago I watched the video of a boy in rural Sindh who died in his mother's lap for the same reasons,' said Amir, the victim's brother. 'I wonder [why] this is [happening in a city like] Karachi.'

He was referring to the video which went viral on social media in September. It showed a horrific incident in Shikarpur where an...