After delay, woman bitten by stray was told to ‘go to Sion Hospital’ as staff denied basic support; the hospital reportedly turned her away on Monday morning, citing a shortage of anti-rabies vaccine and injections, and directed her to Sion Hospital instead.
Rupali Shirote shows where she was bitten. Pic/Ritika Gondhalekar
Forty-seven-year-old woman Rupali Shirote, who was bitten by a stray dog on Saturday, August 2, faced a harrowing ordeal after she was denied urgent anti-rabies treatment at Cooper Hospital. The hospital reportedly turned her away on Monday morning, citing a shortage of anti-rabies vaccine and injections, and directed her to Sion Hospital instead.
Rupali Shirote, the victim, did not seek immediate medical help after the bite incident on Saturday. “She had taken a leave on Saturday as she had to visit her brother who stays in the Irla Market area of Vile Parle. We only found out about the incident on Monday morning when she returned to work. We immediately asked her to head to Cooper Hospital, as that’s the closest to our home. I told my driver to take her to the hospital in our car,” said Savitha Rao, the employer of Shirote.
Cooper Hospital is one among the major BMC-run hospitals facing a stock-out. Pic/Sayyed Sameer Abedi
However, Shirote was shocked to learn that the life-saving injections for the post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) treatment were not available at one of the four major hospitals in the city.
“I panicked when they told me the vaccine was out of stock. I had already delayed treatment by two days, and I was scared. The hospital staff just told me to go to Sion Hospital,” Shirote told mid-day.
“We also requested the doctor to prescribe to buy the injection from outside, and if he could just administer it. He denied doing both and simply asked us to go to Sion Hospital. I immediately called up Savitha didi and asked her what should be done. She then spoke to their family doctor and informed me to buy the injection and get it administered at his clinic.”
This incident has once again highlighted the ongoing crisis of anti-rabies vaccine shortages in the city’s public health system. While mid-day had earlier reported that 16 peripheral hospitals were out of stock, this latest episode has revealed that even one of the main civic hospitals, like Cooper, are facing similar shortages.
“The chances of a person getting infected by rabies and losing their life to it are higher when the bite is from a stray dog, as we are unaware if the dog was vaccinated. In her case, she was bitten by a female stray dog who had just given birth to puppies. This clearly means that the dog was not sterilised. So, it becomes even more dangerous as maybe the dog wasn’t even vaccinated,” said the doctor on the condition of anonymity.
“This is a serious lapse. Rabies is 100 per cent fatal once symptoms appear, but 100 per cent preventable if treated on time. If a major hospital like Cooper is unable to provide such basic emergency care, it speaks volumes about the management of our public health infrastructure,” said Rao.
Meanwhile, Shirote was finally able to get the required injections. “My employer is spending nearly Rs 850 per doctor visit. I could not have been able to afford this treatment if she wasn’t responsible and humble enough to take such good care of me. What are people like us who barely earn anything, supposed to do if this is the condition of government hospitals? Not everyone is lucky to have an employer like this,” questioned Shirote, who still has to take four more injections over a period of almost a month more.
Despite several attempts the authorities unavailable for a comment till press time.
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