Section 145A Anti-rabic vaccine and treatment; reimbursement for cost
Section 145A. The board of health of a city or town shall, upon application, furnish free of charge to any uninsured resident thereof who has been exposed to rabies, or may have been so exposed, anti-rabic vaccine and anti-rabic treatment, in accordance with rules and regulations which the department of public health is hereby authorized to make. Except in Boston, such person shall have the right to select his own physician, who shall be paid by the city or town at a rate established as hereinafter provided, and the fact that a physician is a member of a board of health shall not disqualify him from being so selected and from being paid by the city or town for his services. Boards of health shall establish rates of compensation for such treatment. A city or town so furnishing vaccine and treatment shall be reimbursed for the cost thereof, not exceeding fifty dollars in the case of any one person, from the dog fund of the county in which is situated the city or town where the person treated was exposed to rabies, except that if such exposure occurred in Suffolk county such reimbursement shall be made by the city or town where such person was exposed to rabies, and except that if such vaccine and treatment are given by the board of health of a city or town because of a bite by or other exposure to rabies from a dog required to be licensed therein, the city or town shall not be so reimbursed, unless such dog is licensed at the time of such bite or other exposure. No such reimbursement shall include any part of the salary of a salaried city or town physician. The county commissioners of all counties except Suffolk, acting jointly, or the county commissioners of each county, except Suffolk, shall contract for the supplying of such vaccine to the several cities and towns on the order of their respective boards of health, and shall, from time to time, notify said boards of the terms and conditions of contracts made hereunder. No city or town for which a supply of such vaccine is provided by a contract as aforesaid shall be reimbursed hereunder for any such vaccine not purchased under such contract.