22-year-old Bale Hasda, who goes by the name Sumi, was bitten by a stray dog in Delhi’s upscale Lodhi Colony on 11 March. She wasn’t the only victim, or even the worst affected. A few others in the neighbourhood were bitten as well, with one senior citizen dying as a result of the dog attack. 

Fortunately for Sumi, her employer rushed her to Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital, one of the few public health centres in the national capital that still have stocks of the vital anti-rabies vaccine (ARV). As ARV supplies at other public hospitals dry up, Safdarjung Hospital has seen its anti-rabies clinic overwhelmed with victims of dog bite cases.

AUTHOR

Suraksha P

Suraksha writes on Healthcare and Pharma. She has been a journalist for five years, reporting for The New Indian Express in Bengaluru and Chennai, and The Times of India, Delhi. In her previous stints she has written on health, civic issues and education. She investigated cover up of corruption in the state health department’s think tank, narrated harrowing tales of women who underwent unwarranted hysterectomies, and wrote about how loss of biometrics came in the way of Leprosy patients getting an Aadhaar card and thereby pension. She can be reached at suraksha at the-ken dot com.

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