KARACHI: A 40-year-old woman from Badin died at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) on Thursday during treatment after she was bitten by a stray dog in her hometown more than a month ago.

The number of dog-bite related deaths across Sindh reached 13 amid shortage of anti-rabies vaccine (ARV), a growing population of stray dogs and inadequate facilities in the rural parts of Sindh, officials and sources said.

The fresh death came a day after the Sindh High Court had expressed its displeasure and issued show-cause notices to two senior officials of the health and local government departments for failing to appear during the hearing of a petition about stray dogs and shortage of anti-rabies vaccines in all government-run hospitals in the province.

More than 122,000 dog-bite cases had been reported in Sindh from January to August this year

“The 40-year-old woman, Rangu Aasan Das, was brought to the JPMC on Wednesday night,” the facility’s executive director Dr Seemin Jamali said. “No immunisation was done and she was bitten by a stray dog more than a month ago on the face. It’s such a terrible death and this is what happens when people are not aware about it. There is an immense need to make people aware of the immediate reaction in such cases.”

A spokesman for the Sindh health and population welfare department confirmed that it was the 13th death this year reportedly caused by rabies which developed after the victim was bitten by a rabid dog.

The data suggests further deepening of the crisis in Sindh, where apart from the 13 deaths more than 122,000 dog-bite cases had been reported during the last eight months — January to August.

“Last year, we registered more than 7,500 dog-bite victims and the number of deaths stood at nine. This year’s figures have already surpassed last year’s data within six months,” said Dr Jamali. “The authorities concerned should take immediate measures to make Sindh rabies-free and devise a comprehensive policy. It is so unfortunate that children are major victims of stray dogs, both in urban and rural Sindh. If we don’t move now, it will become a much larger challenge in the days to come.”

Though the health practitioners and officials believe that the entire country was short of anti-rabies vaccines, the situation in Sindh is worse as in Karachi alone more than 150 dog-bite cases are being reported to major city hospitals daily and no move is seen on the ground for the prevention of the menace and control of the population of stray dogs in the metropolis and rural areas of the province.

“We have been treating 30 to 40 dog-bite cases daily. As anti-rabies vaccine remains unavailable in most parts of the interior of Sindh, cases from rural areas are also referred to Karachi’s major hospitals,” said Dr Naseem Salahuddin, head of infectious diseases at the Indus Hospital.

Published in Dawn, September 27th, 2019