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Old machines and disruption in the supply of power, gas and lamb brain continue to hamper the production of anti-rabies vaccines at the Institute of Public Health from May.
   The institute is responsible for supplying the vaccine to non-governmental organisations, municipalities, civil surgeons, district councils and upazila health complexes, but the supply remained stopped for three months. The institute, which is the only production of the vaccine in Bangladesh, can now provide a half of the patients with the vaccines a day. A full course consists of 14 ampoules.
   The yearly production target of the vaccine was between 50 and 55 lakh courses from July 2005 to June 2006, but the institute could produce only 31.84 lakh courses during the period, which is the production capacity of the institute if the supply of raw materials and other supports are available.
   The production target in May and June was 4.5 lakh courses, but it could produce only 2.45 lakh courses in May and 1.78 lakh course in June. One hundred and fifty to 200 patients visit the institute for vaccines a day and one-third of the patients are children, said the physicians at the institute.
   The machines at the institute were installed in the 1960s and they have been in use on repair since then. The production unit does not have any power generator.
   The institute requires 150 lamb brains a week, but it can manage of 12 to 20 lamb brains each week, said the production superintendent, Dr Mahbub Iqbal. ‘Patients need the vaccines. But when the injury is not severe, we discourage patients from taking the vaccines as we run short of stock.’
   A full course vaccine is priced at Tk 40 and the price has remained the same from the beginning of the production unit. But the imported vaccine, which is produced by tissue culture in a neighbouring country, is priced between Tk 1,900 and Tk 2,000.
   Bangladesh is the only country in the world which produces the vaccine in this obsolete, traditional method, the physicians said. The method is banned around the world, said the experts at the institute. The government is giving subsidy of Tk 450 on the production of a full-course anti-rabies vaccine.
   The physicians said the production of anti-rabies vaccine from lamb brain is inhuman and the vaccine produced in this method is troublesome and painful for the patients.
   The injection of 14 ampoules around the navel every day is painful. Besides, fever, vomiting, swelling, irritation, pus and paralysis are some common adverse effects of the vaccine produced in the old method, the experts at the institute said.
   If Bangladesh adopts tissue culture system, which is in practice in neighbouring countries such as India, people will be able to buy the vaccine for about Tk 600 a full course, the health experts said. Vaccines produced in the modern method will be less painful and will have fewer adverse effects, they said.
   The production superintendent said the unit faced problems in power and gas supply for long. ‘We still face problems in power supply which cuts down on the production capacity.’
   The superintendent, however, hoped that the situation would improve by August.

At least three persons were injured in a tussle between the two hall units of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal at Dhaka University on Monday sparking off panic among the general students.
   The fight ensued between some activists of Jasimuddin Hall and Mohsin Hall units of Chhatra Dal in a sequel to Sunday’s brawl at Mohsin Hall over participating in a procession.
   At noon, a group of activists from Jasimuddin Hall armed with clubs and iron rods once again went to Mohsin Hall in retaliation for Sunday’s incident, and attacked the hall unit activists, leaving three of them injured.
   Within few minutes, the activists of Mohsin Hall unit Chhatra Dal got mobilised and chased the Jasimuddin Hall unit activists.
   Both the feuding groups pelted brickbats at each other near Surya Sen Hall and continued the fight for half an hour.
   As both the groups were chasing each other, panic spread at the mall area and the students of business studies faculty took shelter at safer place.
   The senior leaders of the university calmed down the activists and extra police were deployed at the university mall area.
   The Dhaka University Chhatra Dal unit at an emergency meeting issued show cause notice to the presidents and general secretaries of the two hall units. The Chhatra Dal DU unit general secretary, Saiful Islam Feroz, claimed that the incident was not infighting of Chhatra Dal rather ‘ego-conflict’ of some freshers residing in the two halls.

The fourth round of the 13th National Day of Immunisation will take place across the country on August 6.
   On the day, two drops of polio vaccine will be administered to all children aged 0 to 5 years as an antidote to the deadly disease. Children either given or not given the vaccine in the previous rounds could be fed with the vaccine in the fourth round.
   ‘All the vaccination centres across the country will be available for vaccination. Parents can get their children vaccinated at airports, rail-stations, bus terminals, ferry ghats and launch terminals during travel time,’ said a government announcement on Monday.
   All the vaccination centres will remain open from 8:00am to 4:00pm. The 1st round of 13th NDI was held on April 16, the 2nd on May 13 and the third on June 11.

Labourers of eight state-owned jute mills in Khulna-Jessore region laid siege to the electricity sales and distribution office under Daulatpur police area in the city on Monday, demanding smooth supply of electricity in their mills.
   The labourers under the banner of Pat-Suta O Bastrakal Sramik Karmachari Sangram Parishad also held a rally there by defying a police obstruction.
   The parishad convener, Quazi Motahar Hossain, Shah Alam, Azizur Rahman, Siddiqur Rahman, Faridul Haque and Abdus Sattar addressed the rally.
   They said production in the jute mills of the region was being hampered seriously due to frequent power outages.

The freedom fighters and people in Moulvibazar have expressed their solidarity with the demand for bringing back the remains of Birshreshtha Hamidur Rahman from the Indian state of Tripura.
   The family members along with different organisations have recently demanded to bring back the remains of Hamidur, a solider of the East Bengal Regiment who was killed in a gunfight with the Pakistan occupation forces at the Dhalai border outpost under Kamalganj upazila in the district in October 1971.
   The freedom fighters, led by Sipahi Hamidur Rahman, attacked the Pak army, and finally captured the border outpost. After the fight was over, fellow freedom fighters took his body and buried him at a place adjacent to Ambasa village, 24 kilometres off the border outpost.
   The Bangladesh Rifles in 1992 constructed a monument at Dhalai in memory of Hamidur Rahman. Meanwhile, the public works department has also constructed another monument at the place at a cost of Tk 14 lakh under a project taken up by the liberation war affairs ministry.
   The BDR sources said Lt Col Shahid Musaddek, commander of 2 rifles battalion, had recently sent a letter to his Indian counterpart to discuss the present situation of the grave of Hamidur Rahman. He had also proposed a flag meeting with the Indian Border Security Force in this regard.

A total of 24 Bangladeshi citizens were shot dead by the members of the Border Security of India in the last six months, a BDR report says.
   The BSF troops have been carrying out continued offensive on Bangladeshi citizens without any provocation, according to the report released by the home ministry.
   ‘They (BSF) killed 24 Bangladeshis without any provocation. Of the victims, 19 Bangladeshis were killed in broad daylight.’
   Apart from this, many more Bangladeshis have been injured in the BSF firing, the home ministry sources said.
   The report further said the BSF activities are unexpected and contrary to the Indo-Bangladesh border agreement. Such behaviour will cast a negative impact on the relation between two friendly countries, it added.
   The Bangladesh Rifles is watching the situation with utmost patience as it involves human rights and relations between two neighbourly countries, the report prepared by the BDR director general said.
   Every border outpost, however, has been kept on a high alert, he said. The ministry sources said the BSF authorities remain indifferent to solving the problems sometimes. The ministry mentioned the incident of June 9 to substantiate its claim.
   It said that on June 9 the BSF members, without any provocation, had launched an attack on Bangladeshi citizens in Bangladesh territory at Nimtala outpost under Damurhuda thana prompting the BDR to retaliate.
   Following the incident, a flag meeting between the BDR and BSF was held on June 10.

The nine suspected Islamist militants including two of Pakistani origin arrested in Jhalakati on July 7 and July 8, were granted bail and released from jail after two weeks on Sunday.
   The released nine were Golam Sabbir Akhtar Kaderi of Surgoda, Punjab, Pakistan, Md Belal Afsar Akhtar Kaderi, a Pakistani residing in Dhaka, Md Abdul Gani Akhtar Kaderi of Barguna, Md Ilias Hossain Akhtar Kaderi of Chittagong, Md Ilias Akhtar Kaderi of Rangamati, Imran Akhtar Kaderi of Noakhali, Md Nazrul Islam Akhtar Kaderi of Hobiganj, Kazi Nazrul Islam Akhtar Kaderi of Barisal. Sources in the court said they were produced before the Jhalakati Sadar upazila magistrates court on Sunday noon.
   Yusuf Ali Molla on behalf of the accused, prayed bail and claimed that the police failed to prove any connection between nine persons and illegal activities after interrogation in nine days of remand.
   Mehdi Masuduzzaman, the magistrate, granted bail till August 8, the next date for hearing.
   The accused hurriedly left Jhalakati for their homes on the same afternoon after their release.
   The arrestees claimed themselves as members of ‘Dawate Islami’ engaged in religious preaching (Tablig and Dawat) and followers of ‘Kaderia Tarika’ and their ‘Pir’ (religious master) was Yusuf Aktari of Punjab. They denied any connection with any militant or illegal activities.

Leaders of different women and non-governmental organisations on Monday expressed concern over the Israeli attacks on Lebanon.
   The leaders in a statement said Israel had started the attacks on July 13 on a lame excuse, and about 330 Lebanese civilians, mostly women and children, had been killed since then.
   Lebanon is now facing acute crisis of food, water, medicine and shelter, they said adding Israeli had started the attacks on a sovereign country showing thumbs to the world community.
   They called upon the world community to be vocal against the barbaric attacks and to take steps against Israel immediately.
   The president of Bangladesh Mahila Parishad, Hena Das, general secretary, Ayesha Khanam, Karmajibi Nari president, Shirin Akhter, Naripakkha leader Mahin Sultan, Bangladesh Nari Pragati Sanggha chief Rokeya Kabir, Step Towards Development chief Ranjan Karmakar were among the signatories.

A local journalist was freed on bail by a court on Monday after being detained by the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) on Sunday night.
   Sheikh Hemayet Hossain, editor of Dainik Sundarban, published from Mongla, was detained by the RAB and allegedly tortured in custody.
   Family sources said Hemayet accompanied his father to RAB-6 office in Khulna city after the latter was summoned by the battalion. At the RAB office the battalion officials misbehaved with them and asked them objectionable questions, the family alleged.
   As Hemayet protested at the misconduct, the battalion released his father, but detained him and took him to a room on the second floor of the office where he was tortured, his family alleged.
   The Mongla police said Hemayet was handed over to them at around 1:00am Monday and they sent him to the court under section 54. The court granted him bail and he was released on Monday afternoon, court sources said.
   RAB-6 commanding officer, Lt Col Shams, told New Age that Hemayet’s father was summoned to the battalion’s office as a number of applications were submitted by the local people to the RAB against him.
   But he was accompanied by his son, Hemayet who threatened the RAB officials saying they would have to face dire consequences for summoning his father, the RAB official said adding, ‘we released his father considering his old age, but detaind Hemayet because he had threatened us.’
   ‘We handed him over to the police for taking legal action,’ he said but denied that Hemayet was tortured at the RAB office.

Thirty-eight villages were inundated at Keshabpur in the district as a portion of the flood protection embankment was damaged in the upazila on Sunday due to strong current triggered by incessant rain for the last few days.
   The local residents said water from the river Kopadak was entering the area, worsening the flood situation and causing sufferings to them.
   The worst affected villages were Chandra, Mirzanagar, Barandali, Sagardari, Shahapur, Sheikhpura, Meherpur, Gabindapur, Dharmapur, Bishnapur, Mahadebpur, Gopsana, Kamalpur, Nehalpur, Bhabanipur, Awalgati and Baga.
   The local administration estimated loss amounting to about Tk 9 crore, caused by the flood.
   Meanwhile, a vast area adjacent to Bhabadah had been swamped with rainwater for a long time. The torrential rain also caused flash flood in several villages under three upazilas in the district.