Delhi HC orders Centre, AAP to provide anti-rabies vaccine to all government hospitals

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on December 6 directed the Centre, the AAP government and municipal bodies in the city to procure and provide anti-rabies vaccines (ARVs) in sufficient quantities at regular intervals to hospitals run by them in the national capital.

The direction by a bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice C Hari Shankar came while disposing of a PIL initiated by the court on its own on the basis of a news report which highlighted the shortage of anti-rabies injections in Delhi.

The court noted that the central government-run Safdarjung Hospital received a monthly supply of 9,000 vials of ARVs and the other authorities are also able to procure the medicine in sufficient quantities and therefore, there was no need to further monitor the issue.

It directed the authorities "to procure and provide ARVs in sufficient quantities to government-run hospitals in the city at regular intervals" and disposed of the PIL. It told the authorities, then in case of emergent need for the medicine, they can purchase it without floating a tender.

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The court had in July initiated the PIL saying the news article showed an alarming state of affairs in the city in relation to the failure of the concerned government and municipal authorities in providing anti-rabies injections in sufficient numbers to the victims of dog bite which have to be administrated positively within the first 24 hours.

It had said from the article it appeared that the victims of dog bite regularly assemble in large queues at several government hospitals, including the Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) and Safdarjung, where anti-rabies injection are administered.

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