Zubair Qureshi
Shortage of tetanus vaccine at big and small pharmacies of the federal capital has hit the public hard and they have demanded of the Health Minister and the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) to look into this artificial shortage and make sure the drops are available at all pharmacies.
The shortage of the much-needed vaccine was experienced on Monday when a couple of citizens whose sons were injured during a football match reached the local pharmacies to get tetanus vaccine shots. They were told the drops were not available and they would have to go to either the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) or Polyclinic for that.
“Being a resident of the Sector G-10/4 I went to Zoobia Hospital, a private facility in G-9/1, D-Watson pharmacy in G-9/4, Life Care Pharmacy and DeNovo in G-10/4 but none of them had tetanus vaccine,” said Naveed Ali whose 12-year old son was injured and the doctor had advised his son to get tetanus shot.
Later, he had to go to the PIMS and there the hospital had the injection and his son received the shot.
While talking to Pakistan Observer a pharmacist in Peshawar Mor G-9/4 also confirmed tetanus injection was short for the last three or four months. “We don’t know why it is short but the truth is we don’t have it at present,” said Khalid, the proprietor of Khalid Pharmacy.
When pressed if the company had stopped manufacturing or there was some price issue, he expressed complete ignorance saying he only knew that it was absent in the market and was not available anywhere.
