Rabies vaccine crisis hits districts; Sukraraj Hospital also critically low on doses

Patients in Nepal are facing a severe shortage of rabies vaccines, forcing them to travel long distances to Kathmandu for treatment. Gayatri Pandey, a resident of Nala in Kavrepalanchok district, described her ordeal of visiting multiple health facilities in her district and Kathmandu, only to find no vaccine available. She ultimately paid Rs1,000 for a dose at a private pharmacy after being turned away from district hospitals.

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I paid Rs1,000 in a private pharmacy for a shot. For the second dose also, I had reached those health facilities, but they turned me away saying that they do not even know when vaccine supplies will arrive. I was compelled to come to Sukraraj Tropical and Infectious Hospital in Kathmandu for a vaccine.

Doctors report that over 500 people seek rabies vaccinations daily at Sukraraj Tropical and Infectious Hospital in Kathmandu, as shortages in district hospitals push patients to the capital. Patients from districts like Sindhupalchok, Dhading, Kavrepalanchok, Nuwakot, and Rasuwa are making the journey. Shankar Pandey, a senior auxiliary health worker at Sukraraj Hospital, noted that while patients can either pay out-of-pocket or come to their hospital, even their supply is critically low, with only a few hundred doses expected to last less than a week.

The Ministry of Health and Food Safety has failed to supply vaccine doses for months. Sukraraj Hospital recently wrote to the Kathmandu Metropolitan City requesting urgent supply and had previously requested 1,000 doses from the Gandaki Provincial government. The Bagmati Provincial Government provided 1,000 doses, which were quickly used, and another 2,000 procured through the hospital development committee have also been depleted. Hundreds of dog bite victims could be deprived of the vaccine if supplies are not replenished immediately.

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Patients either have to pay out of pocket at private pharmacies or come to our hospital for the vaccine. We too are running low and have only a few hundred doses in stock, which will not last even a week.

The hospital has stopped administering the second dose of the vaccine from its emergency department due to the shortage, asking patients to return during OPD hours. The Bagmati provincial Health Logistic Management Center, which purchased 7,000 doses after the federal government's failure to supply, is also running out of stock. Nelson Mahat, an information officer, stated that they are critically low and can only supply small batches of doses, receiving numerous calls daily with no clear answer on when supply will resume.

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We are critically low on the rabies vaccine. Hospitals demand 1,000 doses, but we are supplying only 30, 40 or 70 doses. We get dozens of phone calls from hospitals daily, but we have neither vaccine nor answer about when supply will resume.