Animal Bites with no budget for Vaccination? San Lazaro Bite Center for a Low Cost Anti-rabies Vaccine

Animal Bites with no budget for vaccination? San Lazaro Bite Center for Low Cost Anti-rabies Vaccines

With the surging prices of commodities today in the Philippines, health is definitely wealth. Anti-rabies vaccines can be costly. And as a matter of fact, a dose of Verorab which is an anti-rabies vaccine can cost you around 2200 Php in a private clinic.

I recently resigned from my work which is quite unfortunate because by the time I was rendering, I was bitten by our dog. According to the company's clinic for employees, I'll be needing 3 doses since my last shot of anti-rabies vaccine was more than 10 years ago (I was bitten by a cat in the heel). I'm already done with my 2 doses of anti-rabies (Verorab) and anti-tetanus shot. My problem was the last dose because day 21/28 won't be covered anymore since I won't be considered an employee at that time.

I thought that I would try San Lazaro Hospital for the last dose, just in case they would allow it. This is the place where I got my anti-rabies vaccine 10 years ago for a minimal amount. If you are from the South, you can go there by taking LRT 1 - Baclaran Station and drop off at LRT Bambang then you can walk up to Quiricada Street or after you arrived at LRT Bambang Station, take a jeep bound to Tayuman and ask the driver to drop you off at Quiricada Street. The San Lazaro Fire Station is just beside the Quiricada Street.

Walk along the Quiricada Street (from the San Lazaro Fire Station) and you'll see the San Lazaro Hospital entrance. Be sure to bring your own face shield as the face shield outside costs around 20 pesos a piece! Face shields are required inside the San Lazaro's Bite Center premises.

Approach the person near the 3rd entrance from the hospital gate and if you are a new patient, you'll be asked to fill out a form then your weight will be taken. Then, after filling up the form, they will give you a queue number for the encoding. You will wait until your queue number appears and then you'll go to the counter for the encoding of data. Give the form to the person in the counter and the personnel will give you another printed form. The next step is that you will wait for your queue number in the waiting area (doctor's consultation/assessment). The waiting area for new patients and for follow up are separated so ask away if you must. I've talked to other patients as I was confused where to next after the encoding. They told me that the personnel in the Step 1 (3rd entrance) will give another number but in my case, the number that I got from the encoding would be the same for the doctor's consultation.

There weren't many patients fortunately, and it took me I think 30-60 minutes before I was seen by the doctor. She explained that I had the option to go back to the company's hospital to have my last dose of Verorab vaccine as they don't have the same brand of vaccine or I'll restart getting the anti-rabies shots with them for four doses. So I'll guess, I'll need to shell out money for the last dose. :'(

Anyway, I think people are buying the vaccines because I happen to hear a personnel telling another patient if they had paid for the ERIG vaccine and this is due to the long line of patients with prescription going to the cashier. It's just sad to know that it reverted back to paying even for a minimal amount because I remembered my aunt telling us during a random conversation that my cousin who got bitten by his ex-girlfriend's dog went to San Lazaro (during Duterte's administration) and he only paid for the syringe. The vaccines at that time were free.

And oh, before I forget, please arrive early as 6 am if you can. Better be safe than sorry as they only have a limited number of patients catered.