Hospitals directed to administer free anti-rabies vaccine to people.

PESHAWAR -- The health department has instructed all the hospitals in the province to provide free of cost anti-rabies vaccine to the victims of dog bite to safeguard the lives of people.

The directives have been issued to all the district and tehsil hospitals as well as medical teaching institutions to ensure that the dog-bitten people get complete dosage of the vaccine and in case of non-availability of stock, the health facilities should arrange the medicine from the market through local purchase.

A letter, issued from the office of Director-General Health Services Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to all the directors of the medical teaching institutions, district health officers and medical superintendents, also contains the latest guidelines of World Health Organisation regarding management of dog bite cases to ensure that the victims don't suffer.

According to it, dog bite and scratches pose serious threat to people and it is a major public health concern because of risk of the rabies' transmission and associated physical and psychosocial trauma.

It says that timely medical assistance should be provided to all the victims of dog bite coming to health outlets to save them from the consequences.

Dept says 27,000 dog bite cases recorded in current year so far

The letter has directed the officials to ensure availability of anti-rabies vaccine (ARV) in their respective health facilities for management of dog bite cases and arrange rabies immunoglobulin (RIG) for exposed cases as per guidelines.

RIG is antibodies against rabies virus. It is passive immunity and given in case of cat wounds and when the bite is on highly innervated part of the body like face and hands.

ARV is antigen and active immunity. When injected, it causes the body to produce antibodies against the antigens.

The administration of ARV is recommended for late arrivals. It works even if the dog bite is 12 months old while RIG is administered to the victim within seven days.

Citing the reporting of the district health information system (DHIS), the letter said that more than 50,000 cases of dog bite, including 40,000 from secondary care health facilities and 10,000 from primary care health outlets, had been recorded in 2021. The...