HYDERABAD: Dog-bite cases on the rise in Hyderabad
By M.H. Khan
HYDERABAD, March 31: Around cases of 5,379 dog-bite were reported at Civil Hospital here in the nine-month period from July 2003 to March 2004, inquiries by Dawn on Wednesday showed. The increasing number of dog-bite cases has become a cause of concern for people of Hyderabad
, Latifabad and Qasimabad.
On the other hand, a shortage of anti-rabies vaccine has hit all the hospitals badly. According to Civil Hospital Hyderabad's record, 748 dog-bite cases were reported in July 2003, 854 in August, 958 in September, 481 in October, 375 in November, 331 in December, 692 in January, 180 in February and 760 in March 2004.
The attacks by pye-dogs have become the order of the day. According to city taluka Nazim Haji Moinuddin Sheikh, the capsules of poison given to pye-dogs were now being prepared regularly by the taluka municipal administration (TMA), city because the powder, used in preparation of capsules is being received from Islamabad. He claimed that before December 2003, there was no poison powder available in the city and dog-bite cases increased.
He maintained that every union council nazim has been informed that TMA should be contacted for elimination of pye-dos. He further said that a particular man is deputed to distribute these capsules, inserted in a halva or sweetmeat, to the dogs in the streets after preparing the capsules in a closed room because the material is provided in powder form to the TMA.
The number of cases has not fallen however."There has been no respite for people of Hyderabad viz-a- viz dog-bite cases which continues to show a rise", a dog-bite victim said.
Another dog-bite victim, Qurban Ali, who was brought from Sanghar for treatment to the civil hospital attacked Hafiz Muhammad Naveed, an attendant of a patient, in casualty ward one week back.
Qurban Ali however died later on as his condition deteriorated. However, the poor people have to use their personal contacts in the hospital to obtain the anti-rabies vaccines for themselves or their stricken relatives, because the full course of injections is quite expensive if bought from the medical stores.
It was evident from the record that even after the poison capsules were distributed in December to feed to the dogs, 692 attacks were reported in January 2004 and 760 attacks were reported by March 26, where dogs had bitten the victims.
It was only in February when there was a decline in the cases and only 180 patients were brought to Civil Hospital Hyderabad. The hospital sources however clarified that if 180 cases were reported in the hospital it does not mean that dog-bites are on decline but it was due to non-availability of anti- rabies vaccines that patients had refused to report cases in the hospitals and bought the anti-rabies vaccines from their own pocket.
A patient has to be administered five injections of 'Verorab' injects at specified periods after being bitten, which is available in the market at Rs400 to Rs700 per injection.
Hospital Civil Hospital Hyderabad sources said that almost all hospitals in the interior of Sindh are facing a shortage of anti-rabies vaccines supplied by National Institute of Health (NIH).
It was learnt that Civil Hospital Hyderabad, Hyderabad required 960-1000 vials of anti-rabies vaccine annually. Sources added that in the last six months i.e. October 2003 to March 2004 only 150 vials were made available to Civil Hospital Hyderabad whereas 112 vials are needed in one month alone.
One vial as the capacity to treat 20 patients at a time, said a doctor. The last supply i.e. (10 vials) was made on March 20 and around five to six vials are required daily in the hospital, he added.
Doctors also said that efficacy has to be maintained by the concerned agencies during its dispatch from Islamabad to Hyderabad and other hospitals in Sindh. The vials are required to be kept under a certain temperature (cold chain) while it is in transit, which is not being ensured, and that is why the vials lost their efficacy.
