Dhubri, March 1: A dog-bite patient, Mamoni Tarafdar, a BPL-card holder, was denied free vaccine by Dhubri civil hospital. Her husband, Robin Nath Tarafdar, was told that they had run out of the vaccine. Mamoni was bitten on February 23 and a vaccine like Rabipur in the open market costs nearly Rs 1,750.

"However, I somehow managed to buy two files and had them administered to my wife. But a friend told me that the vaccine is given free of cost in the hospital but hospital staff told me to get the approval of either the superintendent of the hospital or joint director of health services," Tarafdar said.

He said accordingly he applied to the Dhubri joint director of health services and he forwarded it to hospital superintendent S. Paul, who told him to check about the stock at the warehouse.

Tarafdar went to the warehouse where a staff told him that there was no stock of the vaccine as supply from the central medicine warehouse has been stopped.

Joint director of health services S.M. Emdadullah told The Telegraph that the stock was nil. But when reminded that this dog-bite vaccine could never be nil as a buffer stock is always kept ready for emergency and poorest of poor patients, he did not reply.