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.