Andhra Pradesh is amongst the top four states in terms of deaths which is caused due to rabies in India. As per the data by the Central Bureau of Health Intelligence, 110 people had died in the country due to rabies in 2018 and about 13 people were from Andhra Pradesh.

West Bengal has 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, respectively.

Experts are saying that agrowth in the population of street dogs and the failure of civic bodies in vaccinating them with non-availability of anti-rabies vaccine are causing the increased number of deaths.

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

He further said that as there is a global rabies elimination drive by 2030, there is also a significant demand of Anti-Rabies Vaccine and serum from the neighboring courtiers like Myanmar, Malaysia and Philippines and these countries are importing vaccine from India. Many states and stakeholders have highlighted that the preferential export of ARV by Indian manufactures at increased prices to the neighboring countries has resulted in non-response and non-participation by the manufactures in domestic tenders.

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has taken note of the shortage of ARV which is reported by the states. The Drug Controller General of India has been instructed to monitor the pharmaceutical firms which are producing ARV for guaranteeing regular supply of the vaccine to states.

Source: ET Healthworld