No anti-rabies vaccine at Noida hospital since April

NOIDA: The chief medical superintendent (CMS) has written to the director-general, health, and the Noida Authority, to blacklist the agency which is responsible for supplying anti-rabies vaccines to the district hospital and community centres.

CMS Ajay Agrawal, who took charge of the hospital on Friday, recommended the strong action against the agency, Bharat Biotech, after he found that the Sector 39-based hospital and the health centres across the district had been running without any stock of the anti-rabies vaccines since April.

“The district hospital and health centres, both in rural as well as urban areas, receive a large number of patients bitten by animals, especially stray dogs. In fact, there is a huge demand for the anti-rabies vaccine in entire UP. But the vaccine is out of stock since April, and we cannot let this to go on for long,” said Agrawal, who shot off the letter to DG (health) Padmakar Singh and Noida Authority CEO Amit Mohan Prasad on Monday.

Sources said there had been reports of patients suffering due to lack of the anti-rabies vaccines at government healthcare centres.

And to add to their woes, chemists are trying to cash in on the situation and over-charging patients for the vaccine, which is available for free at government health centres.

The district chemists’ association admitted that there was a possibility that some chemists were selling the vaccine at a higher price. “Most chemists are selling the vaccine at the maximum retail price (MRP), that is Rs 319, or even less. However, some of the chemists near the hospital allegedly selling the vaccine at a slightly higher price (Rs 325). Patients can lodge a complaint with us if any chemist overcharges,” Anoop Khanna, president, Gautam Buddha Nagar chemists’ association, told TOI.

Despite attempts, no one from Bharat Biotech came up with a response.