Reacting to the death of the 10-year-old who was bitten by a stray dog in Larkana, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) chief Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has said that his party-led Sindh government cannot be blamed for it.
Minor Mir Hasan died of rabies on Tuesday. He was first taken to a hospital in Shikarpur, however, he was not given the treatment because there was no vaccine available there, reports said.
Hasan’s parents were quoted as saying that they later rushed him to Larkana’s Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Hospital, but it had also run out of the required vaccine.
A video of the boy, breathing his last in his mother’s arms outside the hospital, was widely shared over the internet as people blamed the PPP-led Sindh government for his death.
However, Sindh Information Minister Saeed Ghani said it wasn’t because of a shortage of anti-rabies vaccines. “He was bitten by a dog in his village two days before Eidul Azha, which was 40 days before his death.”
The child was not brought to the hospital immediately after the dog bite and there is no record of him at any hospital in Shikarpur, said an initial investigation report submitted by the district commissioner.
According to the report, the anti-rabies vaccine was available in stock at the hospitals Hasan was brought to, however, it needs to be administered immediately after a dog bite.
Once hydrophobia has been developed, the vaccine does not work and is not administered, it said.
Rubbishing reports regarding the shortage of vaccine, Bilawal, while speaking to reporters on Thursday night said, “The child was brought to the hospital beyond the time. He was bitten on Eid and brought to the hospital now.”
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When questioned about the alleged negligence of the doctors involved, the PPP chief said that investigations were underway and the government had nothing to do with it.
“The [Sindh] government isn’t responsible for it, but both the selected government and media keep fixating on that,” he said.
