B

ali'€™s challenge in fighting rabies spread from dogs and monkeys is well known, with many human deaths each year across the island. Tragically, Bali has been without the rabies vaccine now for some six weeks. All major public and private hospitals have no vaccine despite weeks of promises to fix the situation.

For visitors to Bali, in case of a serious dog bite, the only option is to fly to Singapore or their home country as quickly as possible for the vaccine.

However, for local Balinese, there is no option.

Given that every day there are upwards of a dozen serious dog bite cases treated in Denpasar alone, there are at least 300 to 400 potential rabies cases going untreated right now.

There is no question that in the coming months, the level of rabies deaths in Bali will sharply increase as a result of this deplorable situation. Various promises to fix the vaccine supply have been given over the last month with no result.

This situation is extremely serious and requires direct intervention by whoever is responsible for supplying medical facilities across Bali with the rabies vaccine.

Peter Brown
Denpasar