Andhra among top 4 in rabies deaths in country

Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh is among the top four states in terms of deaths caused due to rabies in the country. According to data by the Central Bureau of Health Intelligence, 110 people died in the country due to rabies in 2018 and around 13 were from Andhra.

West Bengal recorded the highest number of deaths in the country with 46 deaths in 2018 followed by Karnataka with 23 deaths and Andhra and Delhi with 13 deaths each.

Experts say that an increase in the population of street dogs and the failure of civic bodies in vaccinating them and non-availability of anti-rabies vaccine are resulting in increasing number of deaths.

Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Ashwini Kumar Choubey told Lok Sabha on November 22,” The procurement of Anti-Rabies Vaccine (ARV) is decentralized. As the state governments do the procurement of the vaccine, their availability status is maintained accordingly at the state level, and no central database on availability of ARV is maintained.” Choubey said that shortage of Anti-Rabies Vaccine had been reported by some states like West Bengal, Haryana, Punjab, Karnataka.

“As there is a global rabies elimination drive by 2030, there is significant demand of Anti-Rabies Vaccine and serum from the neighbouring courtiers like Myanmar, Malaysia and Philippines and these countries are importing vaccine from India. Many states and stakeholders have pointed out that the preferential export of ARV by Indian manufactures at escalated prices to the neighbouring countries has resulted in non-response and non-participation by the manufactures in domestic tenders,” said Choubey.

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has taken note of the shortage of ARV reported by the states, and the Drug Controller General of India has been directed to monitor the pharmaceutical firms producing ARV for ensuring regular supply of the vaccine to states.