Delhi government hospitals to get 80,000 vials of rabies shot

NEW DELHI: Delhi Cabinet on Wednesday cleared a proposal of the health department for emergency procurement of anti-rabies vaccines. According to a statement, the Cabinet, in its meeting chaired by chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, also granted its ex-post facto approval for the already procured 40,000 vials.
“The Cabinet approved the procurement of 80,000 vials of anti-rabies vaccine on a single bid basis and granted its ex-post facto approval for the already procured 40,000 vials,” the statement said.
Anti-rabies vaccine is an essential life-saving vaccination administered to dog bite cases to prevent the deadly rabies infection, it said. “Currently, there is an acute shortage of this vaccine in Delhi hospitals since the Central Procurement Agency (CPA) could not procure them due to several reasons — withdrawal of rate contract by the bidder, poor availability of ARV in the open market and single bid participation in the CPA open tender,” the statement said.
The government said that to tackle the situation, a meeting under the chairmanship of director general of health services in the Centre was held at Nirman Bhavan. It was decided all organisations will make all possible efforts to overcome the shortage and if required, this vaccine may be procured from the public sector undertaking and other state medical service corporations.