Rogue Karachi dog that spread terror, bit 25 dead; Why Pakistan facing anti-rabies vaccine shortage

Karachi, Oct 15: Amid an acute shortage of the anti-rabies vaccine in Pakistan, a rogue dog in Karachi which is said to have bitten 25 people has been found dead.

The supply of anti-rabies vaccine from India has stopped. Whether Pakistan stopped the import of the anti-rabies vaccine from India due to bilateral tensions in the wake of BJP-led government scrapping Article 370 is not clear. What is, however, known is that the imports of vaccine from India stopped in recent months.

The vaccine imported from India costs Rs 1,000 whereas the drug imported from Europe costs a whopping Rs 70,000, said reports

The rogue Karachi dog which bit 25 people was found dead on Tuesday. The dog was identified by the local residents. Most of the residents suffering from rabies were brought to the city's hospitals on Monday, the Geo TV reported.

"Twelve people were brought from only Liaqatabad," Regional Medical Officer Jahnzaib said, adding 13 other patients were rushed to the medical facility from other parts of the city.

There has been an increase in the number of stray dogs on the streets of Karachi in recent months, while in the past weeks, some 130 cases of dog bites have been reported from different parts of the province.

Jahnzaib said there were no anti-rabies vaccine available in the hospital and people had to buy it from outside for treatment. Karachi Commissioner Iftikhar Ali Shallwani said those bitten by the dog have been administered the first dose of the vaccine, the report said.

Hospitals in the entire province have been facing an acute shortage of medicine as imports of the vaccine from India stopped in recent months, while its import from China has been suspended.