An 11-year-old child Meer Hassan, son of Sadar Abro, a resident of Mubarak Abro, near Shikarpur, died of hydrophobia at the main gate of Commissioner’s Office when he was transported to Karachi in an ambulance as per the demand of his parents for treatment and further management.
His father told the Divisional Dog Bite Vaccination Centre that the boy was bitten by a stray dog in the village two days before Eidul Azha, over a month ago, and for the last three days he was not eating anything. He further told to the in-charge of the centre, Dr Noorduddin Qazi, that they did not take him to any of the healthcare facility for vaccination due to lack of awareness and brought him to Karachi when his condition deteriorated. His mother kept the boy in her lap while sitting down on the ground and was constantly weeping while hiding her face. She told newsmen that she has two sons only and Ameer was the elder.
Her video went viral on social media and people across the country started condemning provincial rulers for their inability to even provide injection ARV to the poor affected people.
The video within few hours was viewed by 54,000 people, with 826 retweets, 871 likes and hundreds of comments/replies on Twitter alone.
Meanwhile, in a press statement, Sindh Health Minister Dr Azra Pechuho clarified some media reports and for information to general public that the dog biting incident that took place in Shikarpur happened before Eidul Azha. The child was not brought to the hospital immediately after the dog bite and there was no record of him in any hospital of Shikarpur. The child was brought to Chandka Medical College Hospital (CMCH) on September 17, 2019 and after examination the mother was informed that the child had developed hydrophobia due to the dog bite and his condition was serious. The Anti-Rabies Vaccine (ARV) was available in stock at CMCH, however, it needs to be administered immediately after dog bite and once hydrophobia has been developed the vaccine does not work, therefore is not administered. Furthermore, the Health Department of Sindh has also made it mandatory for all districts to always have 100 vials of Anti-Rabies Vaccine (ARV) in stock, the statement concluded, which was sent to newsmen.
It must also be added here that the Registrar, Sindh High Court, in a letter addressed to all district & sessions judges in Sindh, has directed to obtain information regarding the quantity of ARV and ASV received at District Headquarter Hospitals (DHQs) and Taluka Headquarter Hospitals (THQs) in their respective districts and send the information to the office on or before 27.9.2019 for perusal of the chief justice. It may be mentioned that the Sindh High Court chief justice has taken notice of a news item appeared in a Sindhi newspaper about the shortage of ARV and ASV in Larkana & Dadu, hence the health secretary, CMCH medical superintendent and civil surgeon (CS) Dadu were called along with deputy commissioner who appeared before the chief justice on 06.9.2019 and the CJ passed following orders, “During hearing, secretary health, CMCH MS, CS Dadu submitted undertaking that sufficient quantity of ARV and ASV shall be made available at the DHQs & THQs across the province within one week. Their undertaking is taken on record. After two weeks’ time from today all DHQs and THQs across Sindh shall submit a report as to the quantity of ARV/ASV received at their centers/hospitals”.
In-charge of the centre, Dr Nooruddin Qazi, said that IHS sent 30 vials of ARV which were consumed on Tuesday, and on Wednesday the CMCH MS had sent another 30 vials, which would be used among the dog bitten patients.
