The Epidemiology and Disease Control Division (EDCD) of the Department of Health Services (DoHS) said that it has run out of the vaccines. Due to the crunch of antivenoms, several government hospitals have been turning patients away. [break]
The EDCD has no record of how many people have died because in lack treatment after a snake bite. Incidents of snake bites have been soaring in the Tarai region in recent times. Monsoon and post-monsoon are the peak seasons in which a lot of people get bitten by snakes.
"We need 2,000 vials of antivenom immediately. It will be hard for us to manage the crisis if we do not get the vaccines by this week," Dr Jitendra Man Shrestha, an official at the EDCD, said. He said that the ministry has assured the department to provide the vaccines by this week. The office said that the hospitals in the Tarai region are in immediate need of the vaccines.
The crisis occurred after Indian pharmaceutical companies, on whom Nepal solely relies on antivenoms, could not to supply the vaccines, the EDCD said. The office published tender notice for the supply of antivenoms several times in the past, but no Indian pharmaceuticals companies showed interest in supplying the vaccines.
The anti-venoms produced in third countries is of no use in case of snake bite victims in Nepal, as poisonous snakes found in other countries are different from the ones found in Nepal and India. That is why the EDCD has the compulsion to buy vaccines from India only.
On the request of the EDCD the MoHP has already requested the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) to talk with the Indian Government to provide the vaccines. The Logistic Management Division (LMD) of DOHS said that it has invited Indian vaccine manufacturer companies to discuss about the supply.
Each year, the EDCD needs around 40,000 vials of anti-venom.
Related story
Jhalanath Khanal Foundation’s Antivenom Center is misusing taxp...
-1200x560-1779450784.webp)
