HEALTH OFFICIALS in the Yendi Municipality of the Northern Region are raising fears of being infested with rabies, an infection obtained from dog bite.
This is because no dog in the area has been vaccinated against the disease for the past 10 years due to the non-availability of anti-rabies and snake venom.
An official at the Yendi Hospital, Francis Kweku Owusu says the situation is so dire that some farmers are now resorting to herbal medicine anytime they are bitten.
He made this known at a free medical outreach programme organized in honor of the royal Regent of Dagbon.
“For the past ten years no dog in Yendi and its surrounding communities has been vaccinated against rabies so if you are bitten by a dog, it is likely you will get rabies. As for snake anti-venom, it has been out of stock for some time now with victims going as far as Tamale to get one while others die in the process,” he said.
The Ministry of Health’s policy on snake and dog bite serum indicates that the serum be administered free of charge but it has been in short supply in many health facilities in the Northern Region forcing some facilities to sell.
Mr. Owusu said in 2013 alone, three persons in the Kpandai district died out of reported cases of rabies with over 160 cases of snake bites. The Yendi hospital continues to serve as the only referral facility for many of the neighboring Districts such as Kpanda, Bimbilla, Saboba and Zabzugu among many others.
He said the medications are always not enough to meet the growing demands by rural farmers who are referred to the facility.
The royal regent of Dagbon Kampakuya-Na Abdulai Yakubu Andani said considering the overwhelming number of cases that the Yendi hospital receives on daily basis, there is the need for government to equip the facility in order to cater for the needs of the people in the region.
The outreach team was able to reach out to over 1,000 vulnerable residents mainly women and children who received medical attention and drugs.
Cases that couldn’t be readily treated by the team were referred to the Yendi hospital for further investigation and treatment.
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