TAXILA: Rabid dogs went on a biting spree in different parts of Pindigheb, sending at least 12 people, mostly children, to hospitals.

According to the injured, the dogs were seen wandering about the streets adjacent to Gulzarabad, Muslim Town and Ikhlas village, biting people, especially children, for two days.

They attacked anyone going towards Muslim Town and Gulzarabad and later people in the Ikhlas village.

One of the victims, Mohammad Saif, said the dog first slashed its paws on his leg, leaving deep scratches and then bit him when he was returning home.

Corroborating Saif’s account, another victim, Mohammad Hassan, said: “The black dog mainly targeted pedestrians and continued to terrorise people of the locality for several hours.

“The victims were taken to the Tehil Headquarters (THQ) Hospital for vaccination.” When contacted, Dr Shagufta Jabeen, the superintendent of the THQ hospital, confirmed that six dog-bite cases had been brought to her hospital on Sunday and six others to other hospitals on Saturday.

Deputy District Officer (health) Dr Manzoor also confirmed that at least six dog-bite cases were brought to the hospital on Sunday.

They were identified as Mohammad Hassan, Samidat Naveed, Mujtaba Niaz, Abdul Wahab, Mohammad Said and Ramzan Masood. Responding a question, he said the Tehsil Municipal Administration (TMA) had been informed and asked to kill the mad dogs.

He said anti-rabies vaccines had been administered to the victims and there was no paucity of the vaccines.

He said data was being collected from other rural health centres.

He said the health department with the support of the municipal committee had also planned to launch an anti-rabies drive in the area.

Assistant Commissioner Haider Abbas told Dawn that arrangements had been made to launch an anti-stray dog drive from Monday.

“As stray dogs are not vaccinated, they are more likely to cause rabies.

“In view of the frequent complaints, we have planned to carry out the campaign,” he added.

Published in Dawn, January 13th, 2020