Letters to the Editor

[The Editor or The APCRI Editorial Board is not responsible for the views expressed by the correspondents]

Discontinuation of NTV

Sir, -- Nobody wanted the Nerve Tissue Vaccine (NTV), which was used in the Govt run anti-rabies clinics to continue indefinitely. Every citizen of our country has a right to get the best possible treatment from the state run hospitals. Like myself, there might be many, who feel that NTV production was stopped without making any alternative arrangement for the very poor people who come for free treatment in the Govt system. It seems as if there was some sort of a deadline for the action to be taken. The most appropriate step should have been a gradual introduction of TCV and a gradual withdrawal of NTV stage by stage. Moreover , arranging for TCV supply for a target population which is 1/6th of the whole world’s population is not an easy job. Not enough doses of TCV are available in the market for such a large exercise. The poor will not get any treatment because they will loose in the race to obtain a scarce commodity(TCV).

With reference to the Article by Dr.Tapan Kr Ghosh, published in the APCRI Journal, volume VI, issues 1&2, I feel the Step 1 should not have been “Get rid of NTV”, it should have been step down the use of NTV and start to increase the use of TCV. Step 2 should be Get an ID TCV schedule approved by the appropriate regulatory authorities after following all the necessary procedures. Step 3 should have been to take measures to increase the availability of the required doses of TCV from the different manufacturers. Step 4 should have been the training of staff and gearing up of the Govt run health care delivery system for the implementation of the approved ID TCV schedules.

Kolkata, 15th August, 2005.                                                                                                          Dr. S. Mandal.